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CHINA 


AGAINST  THE 


<’  i '*^’3rA>'  V-  ; , 


WOR 


Reprinted  from 

The  North  American  Review 


L — Causes  of  Anti-Foreign  Feeling  in  China 
IL — ^The  Struggle  for  Reform  in  China  - 
III* — Missions  and  Missionaries  in  China 
IV* — Americans  Treatment  of  the  Chinese 
V. — ^America^s  Duty  in  China  - - - 


George  B.  Smyth 
> Charles  Johnston 
Poultney  Bigelow 
Charles  F«  Holder 


John  Barrett 


NEW  YORK: 

THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW  PUBLISHING  CO. 


■ 


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PRINCETON.  N.  J. 


Di^vision- 


Section 


D.S172 

.5.C53 


4 


Price  25  Cents 


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China 

AGAINST  THE 

WORLD 


Reprinted  from 

The  North  American  Review 


L — Catises  of  Anti-Foreign  Feeling  in  China 
, IL — ^Thc  Sicrnggle  for  Reform  in  China  - 

III.  — ^Missions  and  Missionaries  in  China 

IV.  — Americans  Treatment  of  the  Chinese 

V.  — ^America's  Duty  in  China  - 


George  B.  Smyth 
- Charles  Johnston 
Poultney  Bigelow 
Charles  F.  Holder 
John  Barrett 


NEW  YORK: 

THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW  PUBLISHING  CO. 


(Reprinted  from  The  North  American  Review) 


Copyright,  1900,  by  the 
North  American  Review  Publishing  Company 


All  Rights  Reserved 


CAUSES  OF  ANTI-FOREIGN  FEELING  IN  CHINA. 


BY  GEORGE  B.  SMYTH^  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  ANGLO-CHINESE  COLLEGE, 

FOOCHOW. 


What  are  the  causes  of  the  present  anti-foreign  outburst  in 
North  China,  and  what  are  the  reasons  for  the  bitter  anti-foreign 
spirit  which  prevails  throughout  the  Empire,  and  which  is  kept 
from  springing  into  universal  action  only  by  the  firmness  of  some 
enlightened  and  far-seeing  Viceroys  ? I wish  to  answer  both  these 
questions,  and  in  the  order  in  which  I have  here  stated  them; 
though  it  would  probably  be  more  logical  to  answer  the  more 
general  question  first,  as  the  present  situation  is  to  a large  extent 
but  a specially  malignant  outbreak  of  a disorder  which  infects  the 
whole  Chinese  system.  Nevertheless,  as  the  terrible  crisis  in 
North  China  is  the  subject  of  more  immediate  interest,  it  will  not 
be  inappropriate  to  consider  it  before  taking  up  the  larger  subject 
which  the  second  question  presents.  In  discussing  these  ques- 
tions, my  chief  desire  is  to  be  entirely  fair;  and  yet  it  may  hap- 
pen that  some  will  think  me  too  warm  an  advocate  of  the  Chinese. 
I shall,  indeed,  have  to  present  the  Chinese  side,  since  no  one  can 
justly  write  of  the  antagonism  of  China  toward  foreigners  without 
showing  how  large  a share  the  foreigners  themselves  have  had  in 
producing  it.  The  subject  is  on  that  account  not  a pleasant  one 
for  us  of  the  West  to  think  of;  for,  in  studying  it, .we  shall  see 
much  to  be  ashamed  of,  and  find  that  much  of  the  prejudice 
and  hatred  of  Western  men  and  Western  institutions  of  which  we 
so  bitterly  complain  in  the  Chinese  is  due  to  ourselves,  to  the  way 
in  which  we  introduced  ourselves  among  them,  and  to  the  way  in 
which  we  have  often  since  treated  them.  Western  injustice 
toward  the  East  is  the  cause  of  much  of  the  Eastern  hatred  of 
the  West.  Nay,  more,  it  will  be  seen  that,  when  we  were  moved 
by  the  purest  and  loftiest  motives,  we  did  not  succeed  in  making 


CAUSES  OF  ANTI-FOREIGN  FEELING  IN  CHINA. 

ourselves  welcome.  Through  ignorance  or  zeal  or  the  coincidence 
, of  unhappy  accidents,  our  ver}^  benevolence  has  itself  been  mis- 
understood and  offensive. 

The  first  question,  as  to  the  causes  of  the  present  anti-foreign 
outbreak  in  North  China,  may  be  put  in  another  form:  Who  are 
the  Boxers,  and  how  and  why  have  they  become  what  they  are? 
For  these  people  are  everywhere  considered  the  cause  of  the 
present  disturbance,  and  the  chief  agents  in  its  murderous  crusade 
against  foreigners. 

The  Boxers  are  a patriotic  secret  society;  but,  as  in  the  case 
of  all  other  such  associations  in  China,  their  origin  and  history 
are  difficult  to  trace.  Though  it  is  but  a year  since  the  society 
began  to  attract  public  attention  by  its  depredations  against  for- 
eigners, it  is  said  to  have  been  in  existence  for  several  years.  It 
seems  at  first  to  have  been  partly  an  athletic  association,  and  partly 
a kind  of  mutual  protective  organization,  for  defense  against  the 
roving  bands  of  robbers  which  sometimes  infest  the  province  of 
Shan-tung;  and  it  was  called  by  the  name  which  has  since  become 
infamous,  the  ‘^^Eighteous  Harmonious  Fist,”  translated  for  brevity 
by  the  short  and  expressive  word  ^^Boxers.”  It  is  certain  that  it 
showed  no  special  hostility  toward  the  native  Christians,  and  gave 
no  trouble  to  missionaries  or  other  foreigners.  The  question, 
then,  is  how  to  account  for  the  change  which  made  of  this  society 
of  men,  associated  to  oppose  the  lawlessness  of  freebooters,  the 
most  cruel  and  blood-thirsty  anti-foreign  organization  in  the  his- 
tory of  China.  The  reasons  must  be  sought  in  the  recent  history 
of  Shan-tung,  and  they  are  not  hard  to  discover. 

Up  to  the  fall  of  1897,  Shan-tung  enjoyed  an  excellent  reputa- 
tion for  its  treatment  of  foreigners  and  native  Christians ; indeed, 
there  were  more  Christians  in  that  province  than  in  any  other  in 
the  Empire,  except  Fuh-keen.  On  the  1st  of  November  of  that 
year,  however,  there  was  a riot  in  which  two  German  Catholic  mis- 
sionaries were  brutally  murdered,  and, Germany  promptly  seized 
upon  the  crime  as  a pretext  for  what  it  had  long  contemplated,  the 
seizure  of  a portion  of  Chinese  territory.  On  the  14th,  Admiral 
Diedrichs  landed  troops  at  Kiao  Chow,  and  negotiations  were  en- 
tered upon  for  the  formal  cession  to  Germany  of  that  which  she 
had  already  seized.  On  the  6th  of  the  following  March,  a treaty 
was  signed  at  Peking  by  which  the  country  round  about  the  Bay 
of  Kiao  Chow,  as  far  inland  as  the  neighboring  hills,  was  ceded 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 


to  the  German  Empire  for  ninety-nine  years;  the  Governor  of 
Shan-tung  was  dismissed,  six  other  high  officials  removed,  an  in- 
demnity of  3,000  taels  paid,  and  a promise  made  to  bnild  three 
‘‘expiatory'^  chapels.  Germany  obtained  in  addition  a concession 
for  two  railways  in  the  province,  and  the  right  to  open  mines  with- 
in a region  of  territory  twenty  kilometres  wide  along  them.  These 
were  hard  terms,  but  that  which  was  most  bitterly  resented  was 
the  seizure  of  territory.  This  high-handed  act  worked  an 
ominous  change  in  the  attitude  of  the  people  toward  foreigners, 
and  especially  Germans.  It  was  not  safe  for  Germans  in  small 
companies  to  travel  in  the  interior,  and  three  who  later  unwisely 
did  so  were  attacked,  though  they  fortunately  escaped  with  their 
lives.  To  punish  the  perpetrators  of  what  the  German  Govern- 
ment chose  to  consider  another  unprovoked  crime,  the  commander 
of  Kiao  Chow  immediately  sent  troops  to  the  scene  of  the  attack, 
and  they  burned  down  two  villages.  This  harsh  and  indiscrim- 
inate retaliation,  in  which  innocent  suffered  as  well  as  guilty,  in- 
flamed the  people  to  madness,  and  many  foreigners  predicted 
serious  results.  These  were  not  long  in  coming.  A bitter  anti- 
Christian,  anti-foreign  spirit  showed  itself  throughout  the  prov- 
ince, which  was  later  intensified  by  the  Imperial  Decree  of  March 
15th  of  last  year,  issued  on  the  demand  of  France,  conferring 
practically  official  rank  on  Eoman  Catholic  bishops  and  mission- 
aries. The  position  of  equality  with  Viceroys  and  Governors  thus 
given  to  the  bishops,  and  equality  with  provincial  treasurers, 
provincial  judges,  taotais  and  prefects  given  to  the  various  orders 
of'  priests,  together  with  the  right  of  interview  without  the  media- 
tion of  consul  or  minister,  gave  the  Eoman  Catholics  an  influence 
of  which  the  people  had  good  reason  to  believe  they  would  not  be 
slow  to  avail  themselves.  In  lawsuits  between  their  adherents  and 
non-Christian  people,  the  latter  had,  or  thought  they  had,  no 
chance ; and,  as  in  other  provinces,  there  was  general  complaint  of 
the  constant  interference  of  the  priests  in  litigation. 

Enraged  at  the  injustice  thus  perpetrated,  seeing  in  the  mis- 
sionaries and  the  Germans  the  causes  of  the  country’s  humiliation, 
and  in  the  conduct  of  the  latter  especially  the  beginning  of  an 
attempt  by  the  foreigners  to  seize  the  province  and,  finally,  the 
whole  Empire,  the  Boxers  began  the  series  of  crimes  which  have 
since  made  them  infamous,  preached  a patriotic,  anti-Christian, 
anti-foreign  propaganda,  and  resolved  to  drive  from  the  country 


CAUSES  OF  ANTI-FOBEIGN  FEELING  IN  CHINA. 

the  intruders,  and  all  that  they  represented.  They  also  made 
claims  to  strange  spiritual  powers  to  influence  the  public.  They 
practised  hypnotism,  and  the  effects  which  they  thus  produced  on 
individuals  awed  the  multitude  into  a belief  in  their  possession  of 
mysterious,  supernatural  powers.  It  came  in  time  to  be  believed 
that  they  could  make  those  who  joined  them  impervious  to  the  bul- 
lets of  foreigners.  The  ‘^‘^Boxer  spiriff^  movement,  as  it  accord- 
ingly came  to  be  called,  spread  like  wildfire,  and  led  to  frightful 
excesses,  the  burning  of  churches,  the  slaughter  of  native  Chris- 
tians, the  murder  of  missionaries. 

Such,  in  brief  outline,  is  the  history  of  the  rise  of  the  Boxer 
movement  in  Shan-tung.  But  how  did  it  come  to  spread  till  it 
covered  the  whole  province,  invaded  the  metropolitan  province  of 
Chi-li,  took  possession  of  the  capital  itself,  and  now  holds  within 
its  grasp  the  persons,  alive  or  dead  we  know  not,  of  the  ministers 
of  the  great  Powers  of  the  West?  There  is  but  one  answer — by 
the  connivance  of  the  officials,  by  the  treachery  of  the  Governor  of 
Shan-tung,  acting  under  direct  orders  from  the  Empress  Dowager 
herself.  Had  this  wretched  and  cruel  woman  been  so  minded,  and 
had  she  so  ordered,  the  movement  could  have  been  crushed  long 
before  it  became  dangerous;  but  she  refused  even  to  attempt  to 
put  it  down,  and  degraded  any  official  who  was  honest  enough  to 
oppose  it  and  protect  the  Christians  and  foreigners  within  his 
jurisdiction.  And  all  because  she  thought  she  saw  in  the  strength 
of  the  uprising,  in  its  fierce  fanaticism,  in  its  murderous  hostility 
to  foreigners  the  means  of  accomplishing  the  most  cherished  am- 
bition, both  of  herself  and  of  the  bigoted  crew  of  Manchu  reaction- 
aries who  surrounded  her,  the  expulsion  from  China  of  all  for- 
eigners and  of  all  the  ideas,  religious,  social  and  political,  which 
foreigners  represent.  That  this  charge  is  not  groundlessly  made 
is  shown  by  the  simple  fact  that  Yuan-Shih-kai,  the  Governor  of 
Shan-tung,  and  his  predecessor,  Yu-Hsieu,  under  both  of  whom 
the  Boxer  uprising  has  grown,  were  her  own  appointees,  acting 
under  her  immediate  orders.  The  North  China  Herald,  the  best 
informed  and  most  ably  edited  foreign  paper  in  China,  in  its  issue 
of  June  6th,  after  showing  how  Governor  Yu,  because  of  his  in- 
tense hatred  of  foreigners  and  all  Chinese  who  had  anything  to  do 
with  them,  gave  open  help  and  encouragement  to  the  Boxers,  for 
which  his  dismissal  was  demanded  by  one  of  the  foreign  ministers, 
says: 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 


“There  can  be  no  question  about  the  Boxers  having  been  encour- 
aged by  the  government,  because  Yu  Hsieu,  their  patron,  after  having 
been  recalled  to  Peking  from  Shan-tung,  was  specially  honored  by  the 
Empress  Dowager,  and  given  the  Governorship  of  Shan-se.  Yuan- 
Shih-kai,  the  new  Governor  of  Shan-tung,  could  easily  have  put  'down 
the  Boxers  when  he  first  went  to  Chinanfu,  the  provincial  capital,  but 
he  was  not  allowed  to.” 

Who  prevented  him  ? Who  could  have  prevented  him  bnt  the 
Empress  Dowager,  to  whom  he  owed  his  appointment,  and  whose 
servant  he  was?  These  two  men,  Yn  and  Yuan,  allowed  the 
fiendish  work  to  go  on,  because  she  wished  it ; at  a word  from  her, 
they  would  have  crushed  it.  Again,  the  conduct  of  which  she  is 
here  accused  is  in  complete  accord  with  her  course  ever  since,  in 
September  of  1898,  she  deposed  the  unhappy  Emperor  for  his  too 
zealous  devotion  to  reform,  and  took  the  power  of  the  throne  into 
her  own  hands.  Since  then,  she  has  seized  and  beheaded  six  lead- 
ers of  the  Eeform  party,  banished  many  more,  and  dismissed  from 
ofiice  every  official,  not  too  powerful  to  be  touched,  who  has  shown 
the  least  sympathy  with  the  new  order.  Kang-Yu-Wei,  the  chief 
adviser  of  the  Emperor,  and  the  head  and  front  of  the  movement, 
she  has  pursued  with  implacable  vengeance;  as  recently  as  the 
14th  of  last  February,  she  offered  a reward  of  a hundred  thousand 
taels  for  his  capture,  alive  or  dead. 

That  the  Boxer  outbreak  has  thus  grown  to  its  present  terrible 
proportions  largely  through  her  support,  given  both  openly  and  in 
secret,  is  not  a matter  of  inference,  but  of  positive  knowledge.  If, 
as  late  cablegrams  report,  she  has  herself  fallen  a victim  to  its 
fury,  and  has  been  made  a prisoner  in  the  palace,  or  been 
poisoned,  by  the  Boxer  leader,  Tsai-Yi,  the  Prince  of  Tuan,  one  of 
her  special  favorites — a man  to  whom,  by  a decree  of  January  31st 
last,  she  granted  two  extra  steps  in  official  rank  and  a eulogistic 
tablet  written  by  the  imperial  hand,  and  whom  by  a decree  of  the 
7th  of  March  she  made  Second  President  of  the  Imperial  Clan 
Court — it  only  shows  how  well  her  ministers  have  learned  the 
lesson  which  she  taught  them.  The  fury  of  even  her  hatred  of 
foreigners  was  too  mild  for  some  of  her  favorites.  If  she  seems  to 
have  shrunk  from  the  horrors  to  which  her  own  infamous  course 
has  led,  they  shrink  at  nothing,  not  even  at  the  attempted  whole- 
sale butchery  of  the  foreign  ministers  themselves.  But  the  guilt 
of  the  movement,  with  its  awful  record  of  crimes,  the  widespread 
destruction  of  property,  the  massacre  of  native  Christians,  the 


CA  U^ES  OF  AFTI-FOBEIGJS^  FEELING  IN  CHINA. 


murders  of  foreigners,  the  whole  terrible  tragedy  now  being  en- 
acted in  the  Xorth,  is  chiefly  hers. 

It  is  time  now  to  consider  the  second  question  proposed  at  the 
head  of  this  article:  What  are  the  reasons  for  the  bitter,  anti- 
foreign  spirit  which  prevails  throughout  China?  The  subject  is 
particularly  important,  inasmuch  as  this  feeling  appears  to  be  of 
comparatively  recent  origin.  The  Chinese  have  not  always  shown 
the  hostility  to  foreigners  which  so  generally  characterizes  them 
now.  Colquhoun,  in  his  ^^China  in  Transformation,”  says: 

“Before  the  advent  of  the  Manchus  China  maintained  constant 
relations  with  the  countries  of  Asia;  traders  from  Arabia,  Persia,  and 
India  trafficked  in  Chinese  ports  and  passed  into  the  interior.  The 
tablet  of  Sian  Fu  shows  that  missionaries  from  the  West  were  pro- 
pagating the  Christian  religion  in  the  eighth  century;  in  the  thirteenth, 
Marco  Polo  was  not  only  cordially  received,  but  held  office  in  the 
Empire,  and  at  that  time  the  Christian  religious  ceremonies  were 
tolerated  at  Peking,  where  there  was  an  Archbishop.  To  the  close 
of  the  last  Chinese  dynasty  (1644),  the  Jesuit  missionaries  were  well 
received  and  treated  at  the  capital;  and,  as  Hue  remarks,  the  first 
Tartar  Emperors  merely  tolerated  what  they  found  existing.  This 
would  seem  to  show  conclusively  that  the  Chinese  did  hot  formerly 
have  the  aversion  to  foreigners  which  is  usually  assumed." 

How  are  we  to  account  for  the  change?  Ho  one  cause  pro- 
duced it;  it  is ‘the  result  of  a cumulation  of  causes  all  working 
toward  the  same  end. 

As  the  beginning  of  the  change  coincided  in  a general  way  with 
the  ]\ranchu  conquest,  in  the  flrst  half  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
the  first  and  most  obvious  explanation  is  that  it  is  due,  in  part, 
to  the  policy  of  the  conquerors.  This  is  the  view  taken  by  Hue  in 
his  well-known  book,  ^*^The  Chinese  Empire.”  He  says: 

“The  Manchoos  were,  on  account  of  the  smallness  of  their  num- 
bers in  the  midst  of  this  vast  Empire,  compelled  to  adopt  stringent 
measures  to  preserve  their  conquest.  For  fear  that  foreigners  should 
be  tempted  to  snatch  their  prey  from  them,  they  have  carefully  closed 
the  ports  of  China  against  them,  thinking  thus  to  secure  themselves 
from  ambitious  attempts  from  without.” 

With  the  exception  of  the  large-minded  Kang-Hsi,  the  greatest 
of  all  the  Manchu  sovereigns,  this  has  been  the  general  policy  of 
the  present  d}mast3^  Ho  concession  has  ever  been  gained  from  it 
except  by  force,  or  the  threat  of  force.  It  has  done  everything  in 
its  power  to  make  friendly  relations  with  the  West  impossible.  It 
was  onl}"  in  1842  that  the  first  ports.  Canton,  Amoy,  Foochow, 
Hingpo  and  Shanghai,  were  opened  to  commerce,  and  that  after  a 


TEE  NORTE  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

war  in  which  China  was  worsted.  The  opening  of  ports  in  the 
Yang-tsze  Kiver  w^as  by  way  of  indemnity  for  the  murder  of 
Margary,  a British  consular  otiicer,  in  1874.  Others  have  been 
opened  as  the  result  of  diplomatic  threats,  and  still  others  in  con- 
sequence of  the  war  with  Japan.  It  was  by  force,  too,  that  China 
was  compelled  to  enter  into  diplomatic  relations  with  Western 
States.  The  right  of  their  ministers  to  reside  in  Peking,  and 
freedom  of  residence  and  travel  in  the  interior,  both  had  to  be 
fought  for,  and  were  acknowledged  only  after  defeat  in  war.  The 
Manchu  Dynasty  has  given  nothing  which  was  not  wrung  from 
it ; it  has  made  no  concessions  of  its  own  accord ; it  has  never  taken 
a single  step  toward  putting  its  relations  with  foreign  powers  on  a 
footing  of  sincere  friendship.  And  the  policy  of  the  rulers  hag 
been  carried  out  by  the  Mandarins,  most  of  whom  have  ceaselessly 
striven  to  make  foreign  residence  in  China  a painful  experience, 
and  to  embitter  by  every  means  in  their  power  the  relations  be- 
tween the  foreigners  and  the  people.  The  terrible  situation  in 
North  China  to-day  is  but  the  natural  result  of  this  exclusive, 
anti-foreign  policy;  the  Manchus  are  making  a last  desperate 
effort  to  expel  the  West  and  all  that  the  West  stands  for  from  the 
Empire. 

In  the  changes  which  the  ideas  of  foreigners,  if  allowed  their 
proper  influence  on  the  people,  would  effect,  they  see  their  own 
destruction,  and  are  fighting  for  that  which  for  two  centuries  and 
a half  they  have  exercised,  the  right  to  misrule  and  plunder  the, 
nation  which  they  conquered.  Unhappily,  the  people  do  not  unr 
derstand  the  facts,  and  centuries  of  precept  and  example  have 
taught  them  to  feel  for  the  foreigner  part  of  the  hatred  with 
which  their  rulers  are  drunk. 

It  would  be  fortunate  if  the  Manchus  alone  were  to  blame  for 
the  anti-foreign  feeling  of  China.  Unhappily,  the  foreigners 
themselves  have  had  a large  share  in  creating  it.  The  circum- 
stances attending  the  first  introduction  of  Europeans  to  the 
Chinese  were  such  as  to  give  that  people  the  impression  that  thq 
visitors  were  little  better  than  pirates  and  murderers,  and  not  a 
little  has  occurred  since  to  deepen  that  unhappy  feeling.  ^^Eapine, 
murder,  and  a constant  appeal  to  force,”  says  Gorst,  ^^chiefly  char- 
acterized the  commencement  of  Europe’s  commercial  intercourse 
with  China.”  When  the  first  Portuguese  traders  visited  that 
country  in  the  sixteenth  century,  they  were  well  received ; but  they 


CAUSES  OF  ANTLFOREIQN  FEELING  IN  CHINA. 


were  soon  followed  by  a horde  of  nnscrupnlons  adventurers,  who 
sometimes  forced  their  way  into  the  interior  and  committed  high- 
handed acts  of  piracy.  So  incensed  were  the  Chinese  at  this 
violence  that,  when  Portugal,  a few  years  later,  sent  an  ambassa- 
dor to  Peking,  he  was  sent  back  to  Canton,  thrown  there  into 
prison  and  finally  executed. 

Still  more  deplorable  was  the  impression  made  by  the  Span- 
iards. After  they  seized  the  Philippine  Islands  in  1543,  a great 
expansion  of  trade  with  China  resulted;  and  such  large  numbers 
of  Chinese  settlers  went  there  that  in  time  they  outnumbered  the 
Europeans  in  the  proportion  of  twenty-five  to  one.  The  Spaniards 
saw  in  this  great  influx  of  Chinese  immigrants  a menace  to  their 
own  sovereignty,  and  they  massacred  the  larger  part  of  the  de- 
fenceless and  innocent  Chinese.*  The  impression  which  such 
savage  butchery  of  its  people  made  on  their  native  pro\dnce  of 
Canton  may  easily  be  imagined,  and  partly  accounts  both  for  the 
reception  which  the  English  met  "v^ith  in  the  following  century 
when  they  first  entered  the  Canton  Eiver,  and  for  the  fact  that 
the  people  of  that  province  are,  with  the  exception  of  those  of 
Hu-nan,  the  most  truculent  haters  of  foreigners  in  China. 

The  early  Dutch  and  English  adventurers  had  also  a share  in 
blackening  the  reputation  of  Europe  in  the  East,  and  it  is  not 
surprising  that  the  Chinese  came  in  time  to  look  upon  all  Euro- 
peans as  barbarians,  men  whose  only  objects  were  robber}^  and  war. 

The  period  of  unblushing  barbarism  came  to  an  end  at  last, 
and  Europe  set  about  entering  into  relations  with  China  on  the 
principles  of  international  law.  But,  even  then,  the  claims  made 
to  equality,  however  reasonable  and  just,  gave  great  offense  to  the 
Chinese  Government  and  people.  To  understand  this,  it  is  neces- 
sar}^  to  consider  a peculiarity  of  Chinese  civilization  too  often 
overlooked — its  age-long  isolation. 

The  civilization  of  China  is  the  development  of  its  own  na- 
tional genius  and  life.  Of  no  nation  in  the  West  can  this  be 
affirmed.  The  countries  of  America  and  Europe  have  been  so 
closely  related  on  terms  of  equality  that  the  civilization  of  no  one 
of  them  can  be  said  to  be  entirely  its  own.  They  have  so  acted 
and  reacted,  one  upon  another,  by  physical  force  and  moral  and 
intellectual  influences,  that  the  civilized  life  of  each  is  the  devel- 
opment, not  of  its  own  national  genius  merely,  but  that  modified 

♦See  “China,”  by  H.  E.  Gorst,  pp.  202,  203. 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

in  many  and  various  directions  by  the  civilization  of  each  of  the 
others.  Vastly  different  have  been  the  conditions  under  which 
the  civilization  of  China  has  grown.  With  the  exception  of  India, 
to  which  she  owes  Buddhism,  I do  not  know  to  what  other  country 
she  is  indebted  for  anything.  She  has  been  surrounded  by  peoples 
who,  in  all  the  great  qualities  of  life,  were  vastly  inferior  to  her. 
She  developed  a splendid  literature,  an  elaborate  system  of  social 
customs,  a noble  system  of  ethics,  and  they  are  all  her  own.  Her 
ovm,  too,  were  some  of  the  greatest  inventions  of  man — gunpowder, 
printing,  and  the  mariner’s  compass.  Beginning  at  a time  which 
antedates  the  birth  of  every  other  nation  now  living,  she  has 
developed,  with  the  exception  aBeady  noted,  her  own  national  life, 
learning  nothing  from  her  neighbors  and  teaching  them  all,  the 
quick,  intelligent  Japanese  no  less  than  the  slow,  phlegmatic 
Corean.  Such  a histor}^  naturally  taught  her  to  look  upon  herself 
as  the  first  of  nations;  she  was  acknowledged  as  such  by  all  the 
nations  around  her.  The  inevitable  result  followed;  she  looked 
upon  all  other  countries  as  her  inferiors.  When,  therefore,  men 
went  to  her  from  Europe,  not  only  claiming  equality,  but  profess- 
ing to  be  able  to  teach  her,  it  was  a shock  to  the  national  pride 
not  easy  for  the  West  to  appreciate.  It  is  not  pleasant  for  a 
people  who  have  thought  themselves  the  chosen  of  the  world,  and 
who,  it  must  be  admitted,  had,  under  the  circumstances,  some 
reason  for  thinking  so,  to  be  summoned  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  men 
whom  their  peculiar  history  and  recent  experience  had  taught 
them  to  look  upon  as  barbarians.  The  claim  to  equality,  then, 
made  bv  foreigners  in  their  relations  with  China  has  been  a cause 
of  offense,  a fruitful  source  of  antagonism.  If  it  be  said  that  the 
claim  was  right,  and  that  China  has  had  time  to  learn  the  folly  of 
her  conservatism  and  the  madness  of  her  intolerant  national  pride, 
let  it  be  remembered  that  the  feelings  of  a nation  do  not  easily 
change,  that  the  prejudices  of  centuries  cannot  be  overcome  by  the 
teachings  of  a decade. 

Another  source  of  friction  and  bitterness,  this  time  with  the 
Mandarins,  has  been  the  attempt  to  enforce  some  of  the  commer- 
cial clauses  of  the  treaties,  particularly  those  relating  to  the  aboli- 
tion of  inland  taxes  on  foreign  goods.  On  such  importations,  be- 
tween the  port  of  entry  and  their  destination  in  the  interior,  a 
tax  called  ‘^likin’’  is  levied  at  various  customs  barriers  on  the 
way.  This  is  a serious  burden  on  foreign  trade,  and  it  has  been 


CAUSES  OF  ANTI-FOBEIGN  FEELING  IN  CHINA. 


provided  by  treaty  that  imported  goods  shall  be  exempt  from  such 
chax’ges  on  jDayment  at  the  port  of  entry  of  an  extra  sum  equal  to 
half  the  regular  import  tariff.  As  the  duty  so  levied  would  all 
be  paid  to  the  Central  Government,  it  follows  that  the  local  admin- 
istration would  thereby  be  deprived  of  a large  part  of  its  cus- 
tomary revenues.  Two  results  would  ensue — dilficulty  in  meeting 
the  expenses  of  the  provincial  governments,  and  a large  curtail- 
ment of  the  perquisites  or  ^^squeezes’^  of  the  otScials.  It  is  often, 
indeed,  claimed  that  the  latter  are  simply  robbery,  and  the  cutting 
off  of  this  source  of  personal  revenue  from  the  Mandarins  would 
be  an  act  of  justice.  But  this  is  not  entirely  true.  The  salaries 
of  the  officials  are  so  miserably  inadequate  to  meet  their  necessary 
expenses  that  the  officials  are  compelled  to  resort  to  various  illegal 
methods  to  add  to  them.  That  they  do  so  excessively,  ^^squeezing’^ 
all  that  the  business  will  allow,  is  but  too  true ; but  that  does  not 
alter  the  fact  that  the  administrative  system  whose  servants  they 
are  forces  them  to  the  practice  of  illegal  and  dishonest  expedients. 
Before,  therefore,  the  treaty  clauses  dealing  with  this  subject  can 
be  quietly  enforced,  such  administrative  changes  must  be  4i^ade  as 
will  remove  from  the  provincial  authorities  their  greatest  tempta- 
tion to  robbery.  Until  this  is  done,  and  it  will  not  be  done  with- 
out pressure  from  without,  there  will  remain  a fruitful  source  of 
official  antagonism  to  foreigners,  a cause  of  friction  irritable  alike 
to  Chinese  Mandarins  and  to  foreign  officials  and  merchants. 

Missions  and  missionaries,  both  Catholic  and  Protestant,  have 
also  added  to  the  causes  of  antagonism.  I am  aware  that  this  is 
denied  by  many  of  those  who  are  interested  in  missions,  but  no 
one  will  question  it  who  is  acquainted  with*  the  facts.  It  is  not 
wise  to  argue  from  the  nobility  of  the  missionary  motive  to  its 
ready  appreciation  by  the  Chinese  people.  The  motive,  so  ap- 
parent to  us,  is  not  equally  apparent  to  them.  They  look  at  it 
through  a medium  of  unfortunate  accompaniments  of  which  we 
never  think.  Apart  altogether  from  the  offense  to  the  national 
pride  involved  in  undertaking  to  teach  a faith  claiming  to  be 
higher  than  their  own,  the  whole  missionary  movement  is  un- 
happily associated  with  conquest,  and  its  toleration  is  the  result 
of  successful  war.  Xoble,  therefore,  though  the  motives  of  the 
Christian  Church  are,  its  work  is  tainted  b}^  its  association  with 
force  and  conquest.  To  thoughtful  Chinese  familiar  with  the 
recent  history  of  their  country,  the  presence  of  the  missionary  in 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 


every  province,  in  country  villages  as  well  as  in  great  cities,  is  a 
reminder  ot  the  national  humiliation.  There  are,  indeed,  excep- 
tions; there  are  among  the  leading  classes  men  who  look  upon 
the  Christian  missionaries  as  China’s  best  and  only  disinterested 
friends,  and  the  number  of  such  is  happily  increasing;  but  for  the 
present  at  least  the  vast  majority  do  not  think  so. 

There  are  two  things  in  missionary  work  which  distinctly  add 
to  the  causes  of  irritation — one,  the  teaching  itself ; the  other,  the 
partly  foreign,  partly  Chinese  political  status  of  those  who  accept 
it.  They  are  mistaken  who  suppose  that,  because  of  the  excellence 
of  Christianity,  it  must  lead  only  to  peace  and  has  nothing  in  it 
to  give  occasion  for  offense.  The  preaching  of  it  is  not  the  in- 
nocuous thing  which  it  is  sometimes  considered.  Like  every  high 
moral  force,  when  it  confronts  a lower,  conflict  is  inevitable.  The 
instinct  of  self-preservation  compels  the  adherents  of  the  old  faith 
to  flght  for  its  existence.  Christianity  not  only  creates,  it  also 
destroys ; it  sets  up  new  beliefs,  new  ideals,  new  standards  of  con- 
duct, a new  object  of  worship,  but  it  pulls  down  the  old.  This  is 
its  necessary  record  everywhere  else;  it  is  its  record  in  China. 

In  religious  matters,  the  Chinese  are  among  the  most  tolerant 
of  men;  but  in  their  case  Christianity  is  opposed  to  a practice 
which  has  prevailed  from  the  very  beginning  of  their  history,  on 
which  they  think  the  whole  fabric  of  society  is  based.  The  opposi- 
tion of  Christianity  to  ancestral  worship  is  what  offends  the 
Chinese  most,  for  they  consider  it  an  attack  on  the  most  sacred 
of  obligations,  on  the  very  foundation  of  society  itself.  Missiona- 
ries are  aware  of  this,  and  most  of  them  are  scrupulously  careful 
in  speaking  of  it.  I have  heard  many  sermons  and  addresses  by 
them  in  the  seventeen  years  which  I have  spent  in  China,  but 
never  one  in  which  the  ancestral  cult  was  spoken  of  offensively. 
But,  while  speaking  tenderly,  the  opposition  to  it  is  there;  the 
churches  have  adopted  toward  it  a position  of  uncompromising 
hostility,  and  the  people  know  it.  Here  lies  one  of  the  chief 
sources  of  popular  hostility  to  foreigners,  and  there  is  no  way  of 
avoiding  it,  unless  the  policy  of  toleration  be  adopted  which  was 
followed  by  the  early  Jesuits.  But,  as  this  was  rejected  by  the 
Catholics  themselves  on  command  of  the  Pope,  it  is  not  likely  to 
be  adopted  by  them  again,  and  it  certainly  never  will  be  by  the 
Protestants.  What,  then,  is  to  be  done?  The  thoughtless,  igno- 
rant whereof  they  speak,  will  say:  ^^Withdraw,  rather  than  con- 


CAUSES  OF  ANTI-FOREIGN  FEELING  IN  CHINA. 

tinue  an  enterprise  so  provocative  of  hostility.”  But  this  is  im- 
possible. The  Christian  Church  must  preach  Christianity.  To 
ask  it  to  reject  its  missionary  commission  is  to  ask  it  to  commit 
suicide.  No  nation  has  ever  yet  been  Christianized  without  con- 
flict, and  no  nation  ever  will  be.  Nevertheless,  it  is  unwise  not 
to  recognize  in  the  preaching  of  the  new  faith  a source  of  antago- 
nism, and  it  is  unjust  to  censure  the  Chinese  too  severely  for  their 
opposition  to  what  they  do  not  clearly  understand,  to  a process 
which  they  regard  as  destructive  of  the  fundamental  principles  of 
their  national  life.  With  the  years  will  come  knowledge,  but  it 
will  come  only  after  opposition  and  strife. 

Two  lessons,  at  least,  may  be  learned  from  this,  namely,  the 
tremendous  responsibility  which  our  Missionary  Societies  incur  in 
sending  missionaries  to  China,  and  the  solemn  obligation  under 
which  such  responsibility  puts  them  to  send  to  that  distant,  diffi- 
cult and  dangerous  field  only  the  choicest  men  and  women  they 
can  find.  There  is  no  service  for  ‘which  the  selection  of  candi- 
dates should  be  so  carefully  made.  The  ordinary  qualifications  are 
not  sufficient.  Zeal  alone  will  not  do.  Besides  the  passion  for 
humanity,  of  which  every  missionary  should  be  possessed,  he 
should  have  in  addition  the  great  virtues  of  intellectual  sympathy, 
the  power  of  appreciating  another’s  position,  the  ability  to  see  the 
truth  where  it  exists,  and  tact  which  is  unfailing.  With  such 
qualities  as  these,  the  missionaries  may  hope  in  time  to  overcome 
prejudice,  make  their  position  clear,  and  win  an  acceptance  for 
the  great  message  which  they  preach.  In  that  message  only  is 
China’s  salvation,  for  in  it  alone  are  the  promise  and  the  power  to 
effect  the  moral  regeneration  which  is  her  supreme  need. 

Another  cause  of  bitterness  in  connection  with  missionary 
work  is  found  in  the  peculiar  political  status  of  the  native  converts, 
and  the  immunity  from  various  exactions  which  the  treaties  guar- 
antee them.  It  is  often  asserted  by  opponents  of  missionaries  that 
they  are  constantly  interfering  with  the  ordinar)'’  judicial  processes 
of  the  country,  saving  their  converts  from  the  payment  of  taxes, 
and  calling  upon  Consuls  and  Ministers,  irrespective  of  treaty 
provisions,  to  interpose  in  their  behalf.  All  these  charges  are 
untrue,  so  far,  at  least,  as  Protestant  missionaries  are  concerned. 
Mistakes  are  sometimes  made,  but  no  men  are  more  scrupulous 
than  they  in  their  observance  of  the  laws  of  the  land.  Neverthe- 
less, there  are  real  sources  of  irritation  in  this  connection  which 
VOL.  CLXXI NO.  525  13 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

cannot  be  denied.  The  clauses  of  the  treaties  which  guarantee 
religious  liberty  to  Chinese  converts  have  usually  been  interpreted 
to  mean  that  they  shall  not  be  persecuted  for  religion’s  sake,  and, 
specifically,  that  they  shall  not  be  compelled  to  contribute  to  the 
maintenance  of  idol  temples,  or  toward  paying  the  expenses  of 
idol  processions.  Under  these  heads,  many  cases  are  taken  by  the 
missionaries  to  the  Consuls,  who  then  refer  them  to  the  Chinese 
officials.  Unfortunately,  it  sometimes  turns  out  on  investigation 
that  the  cases  do  not  come  within  the  treaty  limits  at  all,  but  are 
old  troubles,  or  even  new  ones,  which  the  Christian  complainants 
persuaded  the  missionary  were  instances  of  religious  persecution. 
The  embarrassment  of  such  a discovery  is  painful,  painful  to  the 
missionary  who  was  deceived,  to  the  Consul  who  took  the  case  up, 
and  to  the  Chinese  Magistrate  who  tried  it.  Worse  than  all  is  the 
effect  in  the  village  where  the  parties  to  the  trouble  reside,  where 
the  Christian  is  accused  of  trying  to  use  his  relation  to  the  foreign- 
ers to  crush  his  neighbors.  The  resulting  irritation  and  prejudice 
are  lamentable  in  the  extreme. 

Even  when  the  cases  are  genuine,  and  the  Christians  are  de- 
clared by  the  Magistrate  exempt  from  the  exactions  referred  to, 
there  are  two  parties  offended ; the  people  are  angry  because  some 
of  their  neighbors  are  saved  by  foreign  influence  from  a pressure 
which  they  themselves  have  to  submit  to  and  which  becomes 
heavier  in  proportion  as  the  Christians  are  relieved^from  it;  and 
the  Magistrate  is  humiliated  because  at  the  demand  of  a foreign 
official  he  has  to  give  judgment  against  the  wishes  of  a majority  of 
his  own  people.  Here,  therefore,  is  another  widespread  source 
of  popular  irritation.  But  how  is  it  to  be  avoided  ? The  question 
is  too  complicated  to  be  discussed  here.  Some  would  withdraw 
Consular  protection  altogether  and  leave  the  converts  entirely  to 
the  laws  of  the  land.  In  that  case,  fairness  would  demand  that 
the  missionaries  be  treated  in  the  same  way  and  be  subject  to  the 
same  laws.  But  no  class  of  foreigners  in  China  can  be  left  with- 
out protection  without  endangering  the  interests,  if  not  the  lives, 
of  all.  Deny  the  protection  of  their  country  to  missionaries,  and 
all  other  foreigners  will  speedily  find  that  the  protection  promised 
them  will  be  of  little  avail.  The  problem  is  one  for  statesmen,  the 
thing  T wish  to  note  being  simply  that  the  peculiar  position  of 
converts,  the  privileges  and  immunities  they  enjoy,  are  among  the 
causes  of  the  antagonism  which  the  Chinese  entertain  toward 


CA  USES  OF  AJVTI-FOMEIGN  FEELING  IN  CHINA. 

foreigners.  These  observations  are  made  in  no  spirit  of  criticism, 
but  with  a sincere  desire  to  draw  the  attention  of  the  missionary 
authorities  and  the  Christian  public  to  the  facts,  in  order  that  the 
subject  may  be  thoroughly  studied,  and  such  regulations  be 
* adopted,  if  possible,  as  will  lessen  the  area  of  friction  and  reduce 
' the  number  of  the  causes  of  trouble. 

In  addition  to  all  this,  missionaries  are  often  thought  of  as 
spies  of  their  own  governments;  and  by  some  of  those  who  are 
familiar  with  the  history  of  other  parts  of  Asia,  the  fate  of  India 
is  feared  for  their  country.  Many  a time  have  I been  asked  what 
my  Government  paid  me  for  coming  to  China,  and  when  I an- 
swered, ^^Nothing,^^  and  showed  that  I had  no  connection  with  the 
Government  whatever,  my  reply  was  evidently  received  with  no 
little  incredulity.  Again,  in  the  minds  of  many,  the  whole  mis- 
sionary movement  is  suspected  because  of  the  striking  contrast 
between  its  professed  aim  and  the  conduct  of  some  Christian 
governments  toward  China.  And  surely  this  cannot  be  wondered 
at.  With  Western  missonaries  preaching  peace  and  Western  gov- 
ernments practicing  murder,  it  should  not  surprise  us  if  the 
Chinese  suspect  the  former  as  much  as  they  fear  the  latter.  You 
cannot  go  to  a people  with  the  Bible  in  one  hand  and  a bludgeon 
in  the  other,  and  expect  that  they  will  accept  either  cheerfully. 

Some  European  governments  have  been  guilty,  even  in  recent 
times,  of  the  most  atrocious  conduct  toward  China.  In  1884,  a 
French  fleet  entered  the  Min  Eiver  and  anchored  ten  miles  below 
the  great  city  of  Foochow,  in  Southeastern  China,  to  frighten  the 
government  at  Peking  into  paying  an  indemnity  demanded  by 
the  French  ^linister  for  alleged  guilty  complicity  in  helping  the 
people  of  Tonquin  in  their  fight  against  the  seizure  of  their  coun- 
try by  France.  When  he  failed,  the  case  was  given  over  to  the 
Admiral,  the  French  ships  opened  fire,  and  in  less  than  an  hour 
the  Chinese  fleet,  with  the  exception  of  one  ship,  was  destroyed 
and  over  3,000  Chinese  killed,  and  all  without  a declaration  of 
war.  The  bodies  of  the  dead  floated  out  to  sea  on  the  tide,  many 
of  them  were  borne  back  on  the  returning  current,  and  for  days 
it  was  hardly  possible  to  cross  the  river  anywhere  between  the 
anchorage  and  the  sea  twenty  miles  below  without  seeing  some  of 
these  dreadful  reminders  of  French  treachery  and  brutality.  The 
people  of  the  city  were  roused  to  fury,  and  the  foreigners  would 
have  been  attacked  but  for  the  presence  of  American  and  English 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

gunboats  anchored  olf  the  settlement  to  protect  them.  If  some 
of  us  had  been  killed  the  world  would  have  rung  with  denuncia- 
tion of  Chinese  cruelt}^  but  the  3,000  victims  of  French  guns 
would  never  have  been  thought  of. 

Two  years  ago  the  French  perpetrated  an  equally  atrocious 
outrage  at  Shanghai.  Wishing  to  enlarge  their  settlement,  they 
desired  to  obtain  possession  of  a large  rest  house  for  the  dead 
which  belonged  to  the  people  of  Ningpo.  Failing  in  negotiations, 
the  French  Consul  proceeded  to  tear  down  the  surrounding  walls. 
The  people  opposed;  marines  were  landed  from  a French  cruiser 
in  the  river;  they  fired  on  the  crowd  and  killed  twenty.  The 
people  of  other  nationalities  at  Shanghai  prepared  to  defend  them- 
selves, but  they  all  knew  that  any  riots,  if  riots  occurred,  should  be 
laid  to  the  injustice  and  brutality  of  France. 

The  burning  down  of  villages  in  Shan-tung  by  the  Germans, 
to  which  I have  already  referred,  was  an  act  of  the  same  character. 

All  these  instances  of  the  cruel  use  of  force  by  foreigners  were 
heralded  far  and  wide  by  the  Chinese  newspapers,  and  the  impres- 
sion made  on  the  people  it  is  not  hard  to  imagine.  These  papers 
have  also  made  the  reading  public  aware  of  the  deprivations  of 
territory  recently  suffered  by  China,  and  of  the  cool  discussions 
of  the  dismemberment  of  the  Empire  indulged  in  by  the  foreign 
press.  E”o  wonder  the  people  were  humiliated  and  angry.  Many 
a time  have  I been  asked  by  thoughtful  and  patriotic  Chinese 
when  the  end  would  come  and  China  cease  to  be  an  independent 
State.  All  her  finest  harbors  have  already  been  taken;  there  is 
not  a place  on  her  coast  where  her  fieet  can  rendezvous,  except 
by  the  grace  of  foreigners.  Port  Arthur,  a fortified  harbor,  on 
which  millions  were  spent,  has  been  leased  to  Eussia;  Wei-Hai- 
Wei,  with  its  fortifications,  on  the  coast  of  Shan-tung,  to  England; 
Kiao  Chow,  also  in  Shan-tung,  with  the  finest  bay  on  the  coast  of 
China,  large  enough  to  accommodate  the  fieets  of  the  world,  to 
Germany;  and  Kwang-Chau  bay,  on  the  southern  coast  of  Kwang- 
tung,  to  France.  There  would  be  some  justification  for  these 
seizures — for  seizures  they  are,  though  called  only  ^ffeases’^ — if 
they  had  been  made  in  retaliation  for  broken  pledges,  for  crimes 
for  which  the  government  was  responsible;  but  every  one  knows 
that,  with  the  apparent  exception  of  Kiao  Chow,  and  the  exception 
is  apparent  only,  they  are  all  due  to  the  mutual  fears  and  mutual 
jealousies  of  foreign  States.  The  sovereignty  of  China  over  her 


CA  USES  OF  ANTLFOREION  FEELING  IN  CHINA. 

own  domain  is  not  recognized ; he  who  is  strong  enough  may  take 
what  he  pleases,  and  his  neighbor,  lest  the  balance  of  power  be 
broken,  may  go  and  do  the  same.  That  under  such  circumstances 
the  wrath  of  the  people  is  aroused  is  no  matter  for  wonder.  The 
• West  cannot  sow  the  wdnd  in  the  East  without  having  later  to 
meet  the  terrible  necessity  of  reaping  the  whirlwind. 

I have  tried  to  give  a fair  analysis  of  the  causes  of  the  anti- 
foreign  feeling  which  prevails  in  China.  It  is  not  complete;  there 
are  other  causes  which  might  be  mentioned.  But  I have  given 
those  w^hich  are  most  important,  those  which  concern  us  most.  It 
must  be  evident,  I think,  after  studying  them,  that  the  antagonism 
of  Chinese  to  foreigners  is  not  altogether  groundless;  that  for- 
eigners themselves  have  had  a large  share  in  creating  it.  I trust 
that  w^hen  the  present  fierce  uprising  is  put  down,  when  peace  is 
restored  to  the  distracted  Empire,  and  the  time  for  the  settlement 
of  claims  has  come,  this  painful  fact  will  not  be  forgotten. 

George  B.  Smyth. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  REFORM  IN  CHINA. 

BY  CHARLES  JOHHSTOH^  BENGAL  CIVIL  SERVICE  (rETIRED). 


Signs  are  not  wanting  that  we  are  on  the  eve  of  another 
political  convulsion  in  China,  a violent  reaction  from  the  masterly 
and  masterful  intervention  of  the  Dowager-Empress.  The  forces 
which  have  been  swaying  China  this  way  and  that  for  the  last 
generation  are  still  actively  at  work ; while  time  is  surely  if  slowly 
wearing  away  the  barrier  which  has  kept  the  flowing  tide  in 
check. 

Many  writers,  in  a glow  of  controversial  zeal,  were  led  to 
represent  the  palace  revolution  as  the  visible  evidence  of  an  occult 
struggle  between  Kussia  and  England  for  the  sovereignty  of  the 
Far  East;  and,  considering  the  forced  retirement  of  the  Em- 
peror Kuang-Hsu  a victory  for  the  Russian  party,  they  confidently 
I)i*edicted  a speedy  countercheck  from  Great  Britain,  and  exulted 
over  it  in  advance  as  a victory  for  progress,  enterprise  and  a 
higher  phase  of  civilization. 

In  reality,  the  revolution  in  Pekin  had  nothing  whatever  to  do 
with  either  Russia  or  England.  It  happened  that  one  of  the 
chiefs  on  the  side  of  the  Dowager-Empress,  the  venerable  Li  Hung 
Chang,  was  a firm  friend  of  Russia,  and  this  gave  color  to  the 
partisan  view ; but  it  might  just  as  well  have  been  the  other  way. 
The  watershed  of  the  Chinese  movement,  so  to  speak,  is  a question 
of  internal  policy  alone. 

There  are,  in  fact,  two  parties  in  China,  one  extremely  radical 
and  the  other  extremely  conservative.  The  former  is  the  party 
of  the  Emperor  Kuang-Hsu;  the  latter  is  the  party  of  the 
Dowager-Empress  Tshu-Chsi.  The  Conservatives,  under  the  lead 
of  this  remarkable'woman,  aspire  to  keep  China  as  far  as  possible 
a forbidden  land,  a second  Tibet,  governed  on  traditional  and 
theocratic  lines.  The  Radicals,  on  the  other  hand,  desire  to  see 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

China  follow  the  lead  of  Japan,  and  put  on  the  whole  armor  of 
civilization,  as  we  understand  it  in  Europe  and  America. 

But  the  Conser\^atives  are  in  sympathy  with  Russia  only  to  a 
very  limited  extent;  it  is,  with  them,  a sympathy  of  tradition 
rather  than  of  policy,  for  the  relations  between  Russia  and  China 
go  back  to  the  Middle  Ages.  They  regard  Russia  as  a friendly 
Asiatic  despotism,  and  hardly  as  a European  country  at  all. 

The  Radicals,  on  the  other  hand,  have  no  particular  sym- 
pathy with  England.  It  is,  indeed,  one  of  the  elements  of  their 
policy  to  foster  closer  relations  with  Japan,  in  order  that  China 
and  Japan  together  may  be  able  to  stand  independently  as  a great 
Asiatic  power,  throwing  off  the  yoke  of  European,  and  especially 
of  English,  interference. 

In  truth,  the  questions  which  divide  these  two  parties  in  China 
are  much  more  serious  and  profound  than  one  would  be  led  to 
believe  from  reading  the  accounts  of  the  critics  and  chroniclers  of 
our  press.  They  have  a way  of  leaping  to  conclusions,  which 
shows  a great  deal  of  courage,  it  is  true,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  a 
great  ignorance  of  the  Oriental  world,  and  of  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  of  Oriental  peoples. 

It  is  taken  as  axiomatic,  for  example,  that  a theocratic  gov- 
ernment is  something  wholly  out  of  place  in  the  modem  world; 
an  exploded  superstition  of  a by-gone  age ; something  quite  out  of 
keeping  with  modern  ideas  and  modern  life.  But  Germany,  and 
indeed  every  monarchical  country,  is  in  principle  a theocracy ; for 
the  kingship  is  founded  on  divine  right;  and  the  fact  that  the 
coronation  is  a religious  ceremony  shows  that  the  divine  sanction 
is  still  conceived  as  authorizing  the  Emperor  to  mle.  Russia, 
where  the  Emperor  himself  sets  the  cro^m  upon  his  head,  is  even 
more  directly  theocratic;  the  ruler  draws  his  right  diiect  from 
heaven,  without  the  interposition  of  the  Church.  But  every 
monarchy  is  in  principle  a theocracy,  just  as  every  aristocracy 
admits  the  principle  of  ancestor-worship. 

So  that  there  is  nothing  essentially  incompatible  with  Western 
ideas  in  even  the  extreme  ideals  of  the  Chinese  Conservatives. 
And,  as  far  as  they  believe  in  adhering  to  the  traditional  and 
native  forms  of  Chinese  life,  and,  incidentally,  of  Chinese  arts 
and  handicrafts,  there  is  much  to  be  said  for  them,  too ; for  these 
are  the  forms  of  life  which  they  have  developed  for  themselves 
during  generations,  and  even  now  their  arts  and  crafts  are  in 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  REFORM  IN  CHINA. 

many  things  so  superior  to  ours  that  we  buy  as  ornaments  things 
which  they  destined  simply  for  common  use.  In  Europe  the  very 
latest  ideal  in  arts  and  crafts  is  the  introduction  of  the  personal 
and  creative  element  in  all  workmanship  as  against  machinery. 
But  this  was  the  ideal  of  China  and  Japan  from  the  outset.  Every 
Japanese  and  Chinese  artisan  is  an  artist,  and  in  this  they  are  a 
century  ahead  of  their  Western  critics. 

So  that  one  may  easily  make  out  a very  strong  general  case  for 
the  Conservatives  in  China.  And,  when  this  has  been  done,  it 
becomes  doubly  interesting  to  apply  the  same  process  in  detail, 
and  to  inquire  what  precisely  were  the  innovations  which  the  Em- 
peror Kuang-IIsu  sought  to  introduce,  and  why  this  attempt  was 
so  completely  frustrated. 

First,  a word  about  the  Emperor  himself.  Kuang-Hsu  is  an 
imperial  title,  meaning  ^‘Enduring  Majesty/^  the  prince’s  per- 
sonal name  is  Teai-Tsien.  He  is  only  twenty-seven  years  old, 
though  he  has  borne  the  title  of  Emperor  ever  since  the  death  of 
his  cousin,  the  Emperor  Chai-Chin,  five  and  twenty  years  ago, 
and  has  been  sole  responsible  ruler,  in  theory  at  least,  for  the  last 
nine  years.  The  Emperor  Kuang-Hsu  is  slight  and  delicate, 
almost  childish  in  appearance,  of  pale  olive  complexion,  and  with 
great,  melancholy  eyes.  There  is  a gentleness  in  his  expression 
that  speaks  rather  of  dreaming  than  of  the  power  to  turn  dreams 
into  acts.  It  is  strange  to  find  a personality  so  ethereal  among 
the  descendants  of  the  Mongol  hordes;  yet  the  Emperor  Kuang- 
Hsu  might  sit  as  a model  for  some  Oriental  saint  on  the 
threshold  of  the  highest  beatitude.  Though  it  is  eleven  years  since 
his  marriage  with  Princess  Eho-na-la,  the  Emperor  is  childless. 

It  is  not  so  long  since  the  nobles  of  our  most  civilized  Western 
lands  counted  it  a vice  to  write  well,  and  slept  on  rushes  in  their 
torch-lit,  wooden  halls.  Their  ideals  were  war  and  hunting,  with 
bows  and  arrows,  for  the  most  part,  with  legalized  plundering  of 
the  agricultural  population  to.  renew  their  supplies  of  bread.  In 
those  days  China  was  far  more  civilized  than  any  European  coun- 
tr}^;  and,  in  the  life  of  the  Chinese  Empire,  that  period  is  only 
as  yesterday.  The  two  things  which  have  done  most  to  change 
the  relative  positions  of  East  and  West  are  gunpowder  and  print- 
ing, yet  both  of  these  have  been  kno^vn  in  China  for  ages.  So 
that  any  inherent  superiority  on  the  part  of  the  West  is  rather  a 
pleasing  fiction;  much  might  be  said  in  the  contrary  sense.  The 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

West  is  superior  in  corobative  and  destructive  elements — the  very 
things  which  the  religion  of  the  West  has  been  trying  to  eradicate 
for  two  thousand  years;  so  that,  even  from  a Western  point  of 
view,  Europe’s  material  victory  is  a moral  defeat. 

Yet  it  is  none  the  less  true  that  China  has  been  overshadowed 
and  left  behind  by  the  Western  nations,  and  the  recognition  of 
this  fact  is  the  starting  point  of  the  Emperor’s  policy. 

He  conceives  the  remedy  to  be  an  infusion  of  new  life  into  the 
education  of  the  people;  a supersession  of  the  wonderful  system 
of  intellectual  training,  perfected  centuries  ago,  which  forms  all 
minds  alike  on  the  great  Chinese  Classics,  “the  best  that  has  been 
thought  and  said”  in  the  Celestial  Land.  It  is  the  battle  of 
utility  against  culture  fought  out  once  more  on  Chinese  lines. 
Chemistry  and  physics,  engineering  and  military  science  are  to 
take  the  place  of  essays  and  poems  exquisitely  fashioned  after 
ancient  models,  now  the  sole  test  of  talent  throughout  the  Em- 
pire, and  perfection  in  which  is  the  royal  road  to  fame  and 
fortune. 

It  is  hard  to  tell  which  we  should  most  admire,  the  genuine 
enthusiasm  of  all  China  for  literary  culture,  for  familiarity  with 
the  highest  thoughts  and  noblest  words  of  the  sages,  or  the 
marvellous  ingenuity  and  precision  with  which  this  knowledge  is 
tested  by  a system  of  examinations  hardly  equalled,  and  never  sur- 
passed, by  any  nation  in  the  world — the  vast  halls,  with  their 
cloister-like  divisions  for  ten  thousand  candidates ; the  seals  set  on 
the  doors  before  the  papers  are  given  out;  the  counted  sheets  of 
stamped  paper  vdth  name  and  number  for  the  essays  and  poems 
of  each  candidate;  the  army  of  clerks  copying  the  themes  in  red 
ink,  lest  any  personal  sign  or  mark  should  lead  the  examiner  to 
recognize  a favored  pupil;  the  enthusiastic  crowds  gathering  at 
the  doors;  the  cannons  and  music  w^hich  greet  the  candidates 
first  to  come  forth;  the  literary  chancellor  ceremoniously  pre- 
siding; the  lists  of  the  successful  eagerly  bought  up  in  the  streets; 
the  chosen  essays  and  poems  sent  to  Court  for  the  delectation  of 
the  Emperor;  the  gold-buttoned  caps  and  blue  silk  gowns  of  the 
graduates;  and,  lastly,  the  almost  pathetic  provision  that  who- 
ever continues  without  success  to  try  for  any  degree  until  his 
eightieth  year  shall  receive  it  free,  from  the  Emperor  himself,  as 
a reward  for  faithful  love  of  learning. 

By  the  way,  we  should  keep  some  of  our  admiration  for  the 


TEE  STRUGGLE  FOB  REFORM  IN  CHINA. 

more  tlian  human  ingenuity  with  which  the  Chinese  students 
sometimes  evade  even  the  strictest  precautions : the  tunnels  dug 
beneath  the  examination  halls,  through  which  surreptitious 
knowledge  is  passed  up  to  the  candidates,  written  minutely  on  the 
finest  paper;  the  offices  where  needy  and  brilliant  essayists  are 
hired  to  personate  dull,  wealthy  scholars;  the  refinement  of 
knavery  that  decrees  that,  while  the  rank  of  the  examination  to  be 
compounded  for  rises  in  arithmetical  progression,  the  bribe  in- 
creases in  geometrical  ratio.  All  this  but  shows,  by  crooked  ways, 
how  highly  learning  is  esteemed. 

Yet  all  this,  while  it  reminds  us  how  foolish  we  are  to  think 
of  Chinamen  as  uncivilized,  is  not  enough  to  win  the  battles  of  the 
world.  Therefore,  the  Emperor  Kuang-Hsu  deemed  it  necessary 
to  decree  reform  and  the  introduction  of  the  utilitarian  spirit. 
Pekin  is  to  have  a University,  as  a rallying  point  for  the  modern, 
spirit;  and  here  a characteristic  note  of  Chinese  radicalism  is 
struck;  for  the  methods  and  standards  of  this  first  Chinese  Uni- 
versity are  to  be  taken  not  directly  from  Europe,  but  mediately 
through  Japan.  It  is  conceived  that  Western  ideals  will  then 
have  undergone  a process  of  partial  assimilation  and  amelioration, 
making  them  more  immediately  suitable  for  the  Chinese  mind. 
In  other  words,  it  is  held  that  the  J apanese  have  already  improved 
the  culture  they  received  from  Europe,  and  that  the  Chinese, 
following  in  their  steps,  will  improve  it  still  further. 

This  drawing  together  of  China  and  Japan  is  one  of  the  key- 
notes of  the  radical  programme  of  the  Emperor  Kuang-Hsu. 
‘‘China  and  Japan,”  says  a recent  edict,  “have  a common  lan- 
guage, they  belong  to  the  same  race,  they  have  all  interests  in 
common.” 

So  a band  of  students  are  to  set  out  from  the  Celestial  Empire 
to  the  Flowery  Land,  as  guests  of  the  Japanese  nation,  there  to 
absorb  the  light  which  they  are  presently  to  radiate,  as  teachers, 
in  their  own  land.  Two  hundred  are  to  go,  as  a beginning,  and 
they  are  already  being  chosen  among  those  who  have  some 
knowledge  of  Japanese.  And  before  they  return,  if  Kuang-Hsu’s 
programme  is  carried  out,  Pekin  will  have,  besides  her  University, 
a whole  system  of  primary  and  intermediate  schools,  and  this 
s}^stem,  modelled  on  the  best  Western  plans,  will  gradually  be 
extended  to  every  considerable  city  of  the  Empire. 

The  University  of  Tokio,  which  is  held  to  be  the  high-water 

VOL.  CLXXI NO.  524.  2 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

mark  of  blended  European  and  Japanese  culture,  is  to  serve  as 
the  model  for  the  Pekin  institution,  and  temporary  quarters  have 
been  assigned  to  the  teachers  in  the  princely  palaces  of  the  capital, 
pending  the  erection  of  suitable  University  buildings.  Meanwhile, 
the  sum  originally  allotted  to  the  Committee  on  Education  has 
been  increased  threefold,  by  a special  Imperial  edict,  and  the  sum 
set’  aside  for  the  maintenance  of  the  committee  has  been  doubled. 

The  thoroughly  practical  spirit  pervading  this  new  educational 
movement  in  China  is  sho^^^l  in  an  Imperial  order  recently 
dispatched  to  the  coast  provinces:  the  Viceroys,  Governors,  Pre- 
fects and  District  Magistrates — the  four  chief  degrees  in  the  ex- 
ecutive hierarchy — are  directed  to  furnish  the  Emperor  with 
precise  information  as  to  possible  means  of  increasing  the  naval 
schools  and  supplying  new  training-ships  for  the  fleet.  A further 
very  practical  move  is  the  formation  of  a Committee  on  Railroads 
and  Engineering,  with  orders  to  draft  plans  for  the  opening  of 
schools  of  railroad  engineering  at  a number  of  central  points 
through  the  Empire,  from  which,  it  is  hoped,  railroads  will  soon 
radiate  to  every  considerable  town,  and  through  all  the  provinces. 

Close  on  the  heels  of  this  follows  another  Committee  on  Agri- 
culture, Manufactures  and  Trade.  To  the  President  and  Vice- 
President  of  this  committee  are  specifically  reserved  the  right  of 
free  access  to  the  Emperor  at  all  times,  on  the  business  of  their 
departments;  and  when  we  remember  the  divinity  that  hedges  in 
the  Son  of  Heaven  we  shall  better  understand  how  much  he  is  in 
earnest,  and  how  clearly  he  shows  it  by  sacrificing  his  ceremonial 
prerogatives.  A School  of  Agriculture  is  to  be  formed,  with 
branches  in  each  district  of  every  province  of  the  Empire,  and 
these  branch  schools  are  to  procure  the  latest  agricultural  ma- 
chinery, and  to  exhibit  its  advantages  to  the  mass  of  cultivators  in 
the  rural  districts.  It  is  hoped  that  a decade  will  not  pass  before 
the  whole  agriculture  of  China  is  transformed  by  the  use  of  tilling 
and  harvesting  machines. 

Another  innovation,  which  seems  to  have  been  borrowed  from 
India,  was  suggested  by  last  year’s  famine  in  the  three  provinces 
of  Hu-pe,  Shan-Si  and  Shan-tung,  all  not  very  far  from  the  cap- 
ital. The  Emperor  had  discovered  that  the  system  of  distributing 
free  rations  among  the  starving  populations  was  not  a success — 
or,  perhaps  we  should  say,  the  system  of  allotting  considerable 
sums  to  that  end.  For  there  is  the  old  tale  of  peculation  and  dis- 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  REFORM  IN  CHINA. 

honest  officials,  a Chinese  version  of  the  charges  more  than  once 
brought  against  the  American  Government  in  its  relations  with 
the  Eed  Indians.  The  Emperor  proposes  to  adopt  the  British 
Indian  expedient  of  relief-works,  and  further  intends  to  improve 
the  occasion  by  employing  the  men  at  these  works  in  the  various 
new  industries  which  he  is  seeking  to  introduce  throughout  the 
provinces.  This  would  include  the  building  of  railroads,  the 
establishment  of  agricultural  machinery,  the  extension  of  irriga- 
tion and  the  introduction  of  new  manufactures.  So  that  a 
famine  will  come  as  a blessing  in  disguise. 

Another  very  important  reform  touches  the  procedure  in  civil 
cases.  It  is  said  that  the  Chinese  courts  have  a bad  eminence  in 
civil  law’s  delays,  keeping  a good  fat  process  on  the  files  for 
months  and  years,  and  even  decades,  to  the  end  that  many  bribes 
may  be  taken;  and  after  a judge  has  taken  many  bribes  from 
both  sides  it  becomes  very  embarrassing  to  decide  the  case  at  all. 
The  traditional  solution  in  India  is  to  put  the  final  decision  up  to 
auction.  Before  we  pass  too  heavy  a sentence  on  this  form  of  cor- 
ruption and  brand  it  as  the  mark  of  an  inferior  race,  we  should 
remember  that  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  Baron  Verulam,  Viscount  St. 
Albans,  whom  Shelley  wrongly  called  ^^Lord  Bacon,”  and  whom 
Mr.  Gladstone  even  more  wrongly  called  ^‘Francis,  Lord  Bacon,” 
was  degraded  for  selling  the  decisions  of  the  highest  court  in  the 
England  of  his  day.  Experience  makes  it  probable  that  this  re- 
form will  be  one  of  the  hardest  to  enforce,  since  its  success  de- 
pends largely  on  the  good-will  of  the  very  judges  to  be  reformed. 

Yet  another  measure  shows  a daring  spirit  of  innovation:  the 
foundation  of  a new  Medical  College  at  Pekin,  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  introducing  the  methods  of  modern  Europe.  A license 
for  this  College  has  already  been  granted;  but  it  has  dark  days 
before  it,  for  it  strikes  a blow  at  vested  interests  of  the  most  ex- 
tensive character,  founded  on  most  venerable  traditions.  It  is  as 
though  the  Federal  Government  were  to  organize  and  endow  a 
College  for  Mental  Healing.  One  copld  predict  stormy  days  for 
it,  whatever  opinion  one  held  as  to  the  Efficacy  of  Faith.  It  is 
true  that  Kuang-Hsu  throws  a sop  to  Cerberus  by  including  in 
the  course  the  traditional  medical  practice  of  China  side  by  side 
with  the  new  methods  of  the  West.  But  it  seems  to  me  that  this 
is  a false  move;  for  what  battles  there  may  be  between  the  rival 
professors ! Homeopathy  and  allopathy  will  be  nothing  to  it. 


THE  NORTH  AHERICAH  REVIEW. 


But  the  next  reform  on  the  Emperor’s  list  admits  of  no  heal- 
ing balm.  It  is  a decree  for  the  suspension  of  the  famous  Six 
Boards,  a series  of  venerable  sinecures,  supposed  to  look  after  the 
education  of  the  heir  apparent,  the  royal  stables,  the  due  perform- 
ance of  bowings  and  kneelings,  the  imperial  banquets,  and  so 
forth.  Ever}'  European  Court  has  half  a dozen  departments 
equally  ornamental.  These  interesting  survivals — and  the  salaries 
— are  to  become  a thing  of  the  past,  their  nominal  duties  are 
to  be  passed  on  to  Committees  of  the  Senate,  and  the  buildings 
they  occupied  are  to  be  turned  over’  to  the  new  Medical  College 
and  the  Pekin  ITniversitv. 

From  a tactical  point  of  view,  this  seems  the  Emperor’s  first 
grave  mistake,  for  it  sets  the  whole  of  the  permanent  Civil  Ser\dce 
against  the  reform  programme.  Like  many  another  bringer  of 
glad  tidings,  his  course  might  have  been  smoother  if  he  could  only 
have  been  persuaded  to  leave  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  alone. 
And  the  whole  army  of  bureaucrats  and  lesser  officials  has  evi- 
dently taken  alarm,  for  we  find  a recent  edict  of  the  Emperor 
speaking  in  the  following  terms : 

“The  Government  of  the  Chinese  Empire,  striving  to  elevate  the 
various  departments  of  the  administration,  and  with  the  sole  design 
of  conferring  benefits  on  the  people,  wishes  to  employ  to  this  end  the 
methods  of  the  nations  of  the  West,  since  what  is  common  to  the 
Western  nations  and  the  Chinese,  has  been  brought  to  greater  ex- 
cellence by  the  former,  and  may,  therefore,  serve  for  our  advance- 
ment. 

“At  the  same  time,  the  bureaucrats  and  scholars  of  this  Empire, 
whose  views  of  foreign  nations  are  characterized  by  the  greatest  ignor- 
ance, pretend  that  Western  nations  are  totally  devoid  of  order  and  en- 
lightenment, not  knowing  that  among  the  W'estern  nations  there  are 
many  forms  of  political  science  which  have  as  their  sole  aim  the  moral 
elevation  of  the  people,  and  their  material  well-being,  and  which,  from 
their  high  development,  are  able  to  heap  benefits  on  mankind,  and  to 
prolong  the  span  of  human  life.  In  the  West,  all  efforts  are  directed 
to  procuring  the  blessings  which  mankind  is  entitled  to. 

“In  our  ceaseless  efforts  to  reform  various  departments  of  the  ad- 
ministration, we  are  by  no  means  prompted  by  a mere  desire  for 
novelty,  but  by  a sincere  aspiration  for  the  well-being  of  the  Empire 
entrusted  to  us  by  Providence,  and  handed  down  to  us  by  our  ances- 
tors. We  shall  not  have  fulfilled  our  duty,  if  we  fail  to  secure  to  all 
our  people,  the  blessmgs  of  peace  and  prosperity. 

“And  we  are  not  less  grieved  at  the  slights  which  China  has  had 
to  submit  to,  at  the  hands  of  foreign  governments.  But  so  long  as 
we  do  not  possess  the  knowledge  and  science  of  other  peoples,  we  shall 
not  be  able  to  defend  ourselves  against  them. 

“At  the  same  time,  our  subjects  evidently  fail  to  understand  the 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  REFORM  IN  CHINA. 


true  purpose  of  our  unsleeping  endeavors  and  exertions.  The  reason 
of  this  is  that  the  lower  classes  of  officials  and  the  bureaucrats  de- 
voted, to  routine  [the  Scribes  and  Pharisees]  not  only  do  not  make  our 
intentions  clear,  but  on  the  contrary,  intentionally  confuse  the  people 
with  vain  and  unseemly  speeches.  Grieved  and  vexed  that  a true 
understanding  of  cur  intentions  has  not  reached  our  subjects,  we 
inform  all  China,  by  the  present  decree,  of  the  true  purpose  of  our 
doings.  This  is  in  order  that  our  enlightened  intentions  may  be  known 
to  the  whole  people,  and  that  the  people  may  know  that  trust  is  to  be 
reposed  in  their  Fiuler,  who,  with  the  help  of  all,  will  mould  the 
Government  according  to  new  principles,  for  the  strengthening  and 
elevation  of  the  Chinese  Empire. 

“To  this  end  we  order  the  Viceroys  and  Governors  to  print  these 
our  decrees,  and  to  exhibit  them  on  notice-boards,  and  we  order  the 
Prefects  and  District  Magistrates,  and  all  school  masters,  to  explain 
these  decrees  to  the  people.  And  likewise,  we  command  the  Treas- 
urers, Provincial  Judges,  District  Inspectors,  Prefects,  heads  of  dis- 
tricts and  sub-districts,  to  lay  before  us,  without  fear,  statements  of 
their  views  on  all  imperial  questions.  And  these  statements  are  to  be 
forwarded  to  us  sealed,  and  must  on  no  account  be  kept  back  by 
Viceroys  and  Governors.  Finally,  we  order  the  present  decree 
to  be  exhibited  in  a prominent  place,  in  the  offices  ot  all  Viceroys  and 
Governors." 

This  is  a most  important  document,  and  the  key  to  much  that 
will  happen  in  the  natural  course  of  events  in  the  Chinese  Empire 
during  the  next  fe\v  years.  It  is  the  personal  confession  of  faith 
of  the  despotic  Ruler  of  four  hundred  millions,  more  than  a quar- 
ter of  the  whole  human  race.  To  carry  out  a programme  like  this 
Kuang-IIsu  had  need  to  be  endowed  with  an  uncommonly 
strong  will,  and,  further,  with  unerring  insight  into  the  character 
of  his  helpers.  Very  much  of  future  history  depends  on  his  pos- 
session of  these  two  gifts. 

Another  projected  reform  is  intended  to  cut  at  the  root  of  what 
is  certainly  the  greatest  evil  in  the  system  of  Chinese  Government 
— the  malversation  of  the  revenues,  made  possible  by  the  very 
loose  system  of  accounts  in  vogue  in  the  Treasury  Department. 
An  autocrat  has  been  defined  as  one  whose  budget  is  not  audited ; 
if  this  be  so,  the  Chinese  Empire  is  suffering  from  an  epidemic  of 
autocrats.  This  time  the  trouble  lies  not  so  much  with  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees,  as  with  their  friends,  the  Publicans  and 
Sinners — the  farmers  of  taxes,  who  bid  so  much  for  the  right  to 
extort  what  they  can  from  a long-suffering  public.  The  result  of 
this  malversation  is  such  that  while  the  taxable  capacity  of  China 
is  simply  enormous,  the  system  of  peculation  is  so  thorough  and 
so  much  sticks  to  the  fingers  of  the  collectors  that  the  Government 
is  almost  chronically  bankrupt.  The  estimated  revenue  of  the 


THE  NOMTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

Chinese  Empire  amounts  to  about  twenty  cents  a year  for  each 
inhabitant.  This  is  about  one-fiftieth  of  the  rate  for  most  Eu- 
ropean countries,  and  less  than  one-hundredth  of  that  of  some. 
So  that  if  the  revenues  of  China  were  raised  to  about  the  same 
level  per  head  as,  say,  those  of  Belgium  or  Austria-Hungary, 
China  would  have  a sum  of  from  four  to  eight  thousand  million 
dollars  a year  to  apply  to  imperial  and  administrative  purposes. 
And  should  the  innovations  contemplated  by  Kuang-Hsu  really  be 
introduced,  there  is  not  the  faintest  doubt  that  China  could  bear 
as  heavy  taxes  as  Belgium  or  Austria-Hungary,  and  in  that  ease 
what  a formidable  vista  is  opened  up  in  the  direction  of  allot- 
ments for  the  Chinese  Army  and  Navy  to  be  turned  out  of  the 
new  and  modernized  schools.  Further,  what  sums  could  be  spent 
on  bounties  to  enable  any  and  every  manufacture  to  compete  with 
European  rival  products,  not  only  in  China,  but  in  all  the  mar- 
kets of  the  world.  The  open  door  is  one  of  those  beautiful  rules 
that  may  work  both  ways.  Supposing  the  door  should  be  found 
to  open  outw'ards  as  well  as  inwards,  and  supposing  the  first  thing 
to  come  forth  were  a flood  of  subsidized  screw-nails,  sufficient  to 
drive  Mr.  Chamberlain  out  of  the  market,  would  there  not  be  a 
sort  of  poetic  justice  in  that? 

As  far  as  the  revenue  is  concerned,^  Kuang-Hsu’s  avowed  pur- 
pose does  not  go  beyond  a stricter  system  of  accounts,  a stoppage 
of  some  of  the  innumerable  leaks  in  the  aqueducts  which  deprive 
the  imperial  reservoirs  of  their  supplies.  But  even  a slight  meas- 
ure of  success  in  this  direction  will  raise  the  revenue  of  China  to 
a formidable  amount,  and,  further,  would  increase  her  borrowing 
power  practically  without  limit. 

And  here  we  approach  a very  important  matter  from  an  inter- 
national standpoint.  To  carry  out  these  schemes  requires  an 
army  of  trained  and  honest  administrators;  it  also  requires  con- 
siderable material  resources  to  keep  things  going  while  the  changes 
are  being  introduced.  But,  while  there  are  doubtless  many  strong 
and  honest  men  in  China,  the  Emperor  does  not  seem  as  yet  to 
have  laid  his  hand  on  them ; and,  as  an  alternative,  he  suggests,  or 
adopts  the  suggestion  of,  a very  remarkable  measure.  It  is  nothing 
less  than  an  appeal  to  Japan  to  lend  China  a band  of  trained  ad- 
ministrators, such  as  England  has  lent  to  Egypt  and  India. 
Only,  in  the  case  of  China,  the  initiative  comes  from  the  borrower, 
not  from  the  lender.  And  in  the  light  of  this  idea  the  recent 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOB  REFORM  IN  CHINA. 


Japanese  mission  to  Pekin,  under  Marquis  Ito,  acquires  a new 
significance. 

An  excellent  statement  of  this  side  of  the  question  appeared  in 
a recent  number  of  cne  of  the  Pekin  radical  papers.  It  is  worth 
quoting  at  some  length. 

The  writer  begins  by  citing  instances  from  the  early  history  of 
China,  and  the  story  of  Peter  the  Great,  to  show  that  reforms 
may  best  be  carried  out  by  foreign  agents.  He  then  urges  the 
Emperor  to  seek  the  assistance  of  Marquis  Ito  in  the  task  of  re- 
generating China,  asserting  that  only  by  a Japanese  alliance  can 
China  take  a firm  attitude  toward  foreign  powers  and  keep  back 
the  horrors  of  a general  war.  .He  continues : 

“If  Your  Majesty  could  only  persuade  Marquis  Ito  to  become  con- 
fidential adviser  of  China,  the  reforms  which  you  have  undertaken 
would  be  promptly  carried  out,  and  the  international  bond  between 
China  and  Japan  would  be  greatly  reinforced;  while  without  Japan’s 
help,  the  early  realization  of  these  reforms  is  impossible.  Even  grant- 
ing that,  among  the  Chinese  who  have  recently  entered  the  arena  of 
public  life,  a few  may  be  found  endowed  with  the  necessary 
strength  of  will,  they  are  certain  to  meet  with  numberless  hindrances, 
caused  by  the  envy  and  fear  of  the  enemies  of  progress.  They  will 
spend  their  energies  and  lose  their  reputations  in  vain  efforts,  and  the 
ills  of  the  body  politic  will  remain  uncured.  On  the  other  hand. 
Marquis  Ito,  as  the  experienced  minister  of  a foreign  government,  who 
possesses  Your  Majesty’s  fullest  confidence,  and  who  is  well  known  to 
fame,  could  have  nothing  to  fear  from  intrigues  in  the  task  of  intro- 
ducing reforms.  And  foreign  powers,  in  their  international  relations 
with  China,  would  begin  to  treat  our  country  in  a very  different 
manner.  Their  schemes  of  aggrandizement  at  our  expense  would  in- 
stantly relax,  and  this  would  be  the  beginning  of  the  transformation 
of  China  from  a poor  and  weak  country,  surrounded  with  dangers, 
into  a land  full  of  wealth  and  strength,  and  rejoicing  in  the  blessings 
of  assured  peace.  This  is  the  first  reason  why  we  must  borrow  talent 
from  other  nations. 

“The  fundamental  principles  of  Chinese  policy  are  isolation  and 
separation,  whilst  among  Western  nations  the  principles  of  govern- 
ment are  the  very  opposite  of  these,  namely,  intercourse  and  union; 
principles  which  serve  to  bring  about  the  development  of  moral  and 
material  resources,  while  isolation  and  exclusion  lead  to  the  very  oppo- 
site result.  To  these  two  principles,  intercourse  and  union,  the  nations 
of  the  West  are  indebted  for  their  greatness  and  civilization. 

“From  the  geographical  point  of  view,  nations  inhabiting  the 
same  continent  should  first  unite  among  themselves.  From  .the 
point  of  view  of  race  and  language,  it  is  best  for  kindred  peoples  to 
be  joined.  The  peoples  of  Europe  and  America  do  not  inhabit  the 
same  continent  as  ourselves;  they  belong  to  another  race,  and 
speak  other  tongues.  Therefore,  in  view  of  these  natural  obstacles, 
they  cannot  be  closely  united  with  China.  It  is  quite  otherwise  with 
Japan.  Although,  carried  away  by  her  extremely  rapid  progress,  and 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 


that  unexpected  development  which  roused  the  apprehensions  of  both 
Europe  and  America,  Japan  made  war  on  China,  yet,  when  confronted 
by  Russia,  Japan  was  helpless.  It  is  true  that,  in  order  to  counter- 
balance Russia,  Japan  is  making  friends  with  England;  but  experi- 
enced men  of  affairs  are  convinced  that  war.  between  them  cannot  be 
averted  in  the  future.  Whichever  side  wins,  there  will  be  great 
changes  in  the  balance  of  power  in  Asia.  England  approached  Japan 
solely  because  of  Russia;  England  is  foreign  to  us  in  race;  she  is  for- 
eign to  us  therefore  in  spirit  also.  What  if  England,  whose  sole 
motive  is  profit,  should  find  it  profitable  to  change  sides  and  enter 
into  an  alliance  with  Russia?  Then  Japan,  standing  alone,  would  cer- 
tainly perish.  Therefore  Japan’s  natural  ally  is  China.  If  the  Celes- 
tial Empire,  with  its  vast  natural  resources,  its  huge  area,  its  enor- 
mous population,  should  really  enter  into  an  alliance  with  Japan,  bor- 
rowing from  Japan  new  methods  for  the  development  of  China’s  re- 
sources, and  for  the  education  of  competent  men,  then  Japan  and 
China  together,  in  firm  union  and  alliance,  could  easily  withstand 
either  Russia  or  England,  and  arssure  a general  peace.  This  would 
secure  the  integrity  of  the  Chinese  Emperor’s  hereditary  dominions, 
and  put  an  end  to  foreign  encroachment.  The  designs  of  foreign  na- 
tions can  only  be  withstood  by  the  material  might  of  China,  acting 
under  the  moral  and  intellectual  guidance  of  Japan.  Russia  cherishes 
designs  of  encroachment  on  the  north;  as  regards  England,  which  is 
striving  to  maintain  peace  and  gain  its  own  ends,  its  demands  make 
Russian  policy  necessary,  but  in  reality  England’s  designs  are  wholly 
commercial  and  selfish.  If  an  alliance  existed  between  China  and 
Japan,  Russia  could  doubtless  carry  out  her  design  of  a Congress  in 
the  interests  of  universal  peace,  and  could  enter  into  enduring  and 
peaceable  relations  with  the  other  nations  of  Europe.  This  is  not  only 
very  desirable  for  China  and  Japan,  but  it  is  an  object  worthy  of  the 
sincere  aspiration  of  the  whole  human  race.” 

At  this  point  a temporary  stop  was  put  to  the  Chinese  dream 
of  regeneration  by  the  interposition  of  the  Conservative  party, 
under  the  leadership  of  the  Dowager -Empress  Tshu-Chsi.  This 
very  remarkable  woman  is  the  widow  of  the  Emperor  I-Tshu,  and 
was  co-ruler  with  the  Emperor  Chai-Chun  from  1861  to  1875, 
when  Kuang-Hsu  nominally  ascended  the  throne,  being  then 
three  years  old.  . As  a result  of  her  interposition,  the  Imperial 
Gazette  announced,  as  we  all  remember,  that  the  Emperor  found 
it  impossible  to  deal  unaided  with  the  vast  mass  of  administrative 
affairs  in  the  present  critical  condition  of  the  Empire,  *^^and  re- 
quested Her  ^lajesty,  the  Dowager-Empress,  who  had  twice 
directed  the  affairs  of  China  with  marked  success,  to  lend  him 
her  guidance  in  the  conduct  of  imperial  business.”  Then  came 
three  edicts:  First,  the  quite  credible  announcement  that  the 
young  Emperor  ^Vas  very  sick;”  then,  that  several  reforms  were 
postponed,  the  famous  Six  Boards  being  reinstated;  and,  lastly,  a 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  REFORM  IF  CHINA. 


series  of  vigorous  measures  directed  against  the  young  Emperor’s 
advisers.  Finally  it  was  declared  that,  as  of  yore,  the  Empire 
would  be  governed  according  to  the  principles  of  the  sage 
Confucius. 

One  of  the  principles  of  this  sage  is  obedience  to  parents; 
and  we  must  take  into  account  the  enormous  moral  weight  this 
obligation  has  in  China  before  too  hastily  accusing  the  young  Em- 
peror of  cowardice  and  supineness.  But  time  is  on  his  side. 

It  is  always  a delicate  matter  to  speak  of  a lady’s  age, 
especially  if  that  lady  be  an  Empress ; but  the  masterful  Dowager 
is  not  far  from  the  patriarchal  three  score  years  and  ten,  while 
her  right-hand  man,  the  hardly  less  masterful  Li  Hung  Chang, 
is  seventy-five.  These  two  are  certainly  among  the  twenty  most 
considerable  personalities  in  the  world  at  this  moment,  a sufficient 
evidence  that  the  Chinese  race  is  not  effete.  But  mortality  will 
claim  its  own,  and  then  will  come  the  turn  of  young  Kuang-Hsu. 
If  it  comes  even  four  or  five  years  hence,  he  will  be  only  about 
thirty,  and  his  character  will  have  matured  in  the  meantime.  I 
have  quoted  two  Chinese  documents  at  length,  in  order  to  show 
that,  if  we  are  counting  on  the  moral  and  intellectual  inferiority 
of  the  Chinese,  we  are  suffering  from  a dangerous  illusion. 
Therefore  the  success  of  the  young  Emperor’s  plans  is  quite  a 
probable  event;  and  that  success  will  mean  a huge  revenue  for 
China;  a vast  army  and  fleet  on  the  most  modern  models,  with 
skilled  officers,  probably  Japanese;  a quite  unlimited  power  to 
subsidize  Chinese  manufacture  against  all  the  world’s  compe- 
tition, with  a working  class  of  hundreds  of  millions  ready  to  , 
accept  marvellously  low  wages  and  quick  to  master  the  cheapest 
and  best  methods.  In  a word,  it  would  mean  the  possible  swamp- 
ing of  Western  lands,  in  a military  as  well  as  a commercial  sense. 
So  that  the  policy  of  the  door  which  may  open  qutwards  is  about 
the  most  dangerous  for  the  West  that  could  well  be  conceived. 

Charles  Johnston. 


MISSIONS  AND  MISSIONAHIES  IN  CHINA. 


BY  POULTNEY  BIGELOW. 


The  two  most  interesting  missionaries  in  China,  on  the 
occasion  of  my  first  visit,  were  Professor  Wells  Williams,  who 
subsequently  enriched  Yale  University  by  accepting  a professor- 
ship there,  and  Father  Palladius,  an  Archimandrite  of  the  Greek 
Church  who  had  charge  of  the  Eussian  mission  at  Pekin.  Will- 
iams’s book  on  China  is  still  standard  authority,  and  the  contri- 
butions of  Palladius  to  his  government  are  no  less  important, 
though  unfortunately  they  are  accessible  only  to  those  who  read 
either  Eussian  or  German.  Both  men  are  now  dead,  but  they 
represent,  each  in  his  sphere,  two  different  sets  of  ideas  in  the 
missionary  field. 

When  I first  met  him,  the  Greek  Archimandrite  had  been 
forty  years  in  Pekin,  and  had  never  been  anywhere  else,  excepting 
for  two  caravan  journeys  to  Eussia.  He  was  an  elderly  gentle- 
man, with  a smile  like  Benjamin  Franklin’s,  and  was  famed  at 
the  Chinese  capital  for  keeping  the  best  wines  and  the  best 
tobacco.  He  was  a bachelor,  and  to-day  I recall  him  when  I try 
to  fancy  Epicurus  in  the  body.  He  wore  the  Chinese  pigtail  and 
clothes  to  match,  and  people  said  he  could  give  Chinese  mandarins 
points  on  etiquette.  He  gave  me,  at  least,  many  happy  hours,  for 
he  talked  with  a frankness  and  facility  rarely  united  in  a Eussian, 
least  of  all  an  Archimandrite.  One  day,  for  instance,  I asked  him 
bluntly  how  many  converts  he  had  made.  He  answered  that  he 
thought  he  had  made  one,  but  he  did  not  wish  to  be  taken  as 
stating  this  positively.  When  I returned  to  China  after  an  in- 
terval of  twenty-one  years,  all  my  inquiries  led  me  to  respect  the 
honesty  of  this  Eussian.  He  said,  furthermore:  H have  been 

here  forty  years,  and  perhaps  I have  converted  one  Chinaman. 
When  missionaries  tell  you  that  they  have  done  more  than  that,  do 
not  believe  them.” 


MISjSIONS  Al^n  MIS8I0WARIES  IN  CHINA. 


Father  Palladius  seemed  to  me  not  merely  an 'epicure,  but  a 
trifle  cynical  in  the  things  of  his  own  profession.  He  seemed 
devoid  of  that  happy  enthusiasm  which  enables  some  people  to 
delight  in  illusion.  For  instance,  the  present  Admiral  Holland 
told  me  he  had  a boatswain  who  was  a noble  Christian  Chinaman. 
That  Christian  boatswain  was  quoted  in  missionary  circles  all 
abouf.  Hong  Kong  and  up  the  Yangtsze  Eiver.  The  mouth  of  the 
scoffer  was  closed  by  that  one  convert  for  many  months.  The 
authority  exercised  by  Admiral  Holland  over  the  mind  of  every 
white  man,  both  merchant  and  missionary,  was  such  that  from 
Singapore  to  Hakodadi  the  work  of  evangelization  received  a 
perceptible  boom  through  this  one  alleged  convert.  Every  mis- 
sionary in  China  owed  him  a handsome  present — at  least  for  a 
time.  But  Admiral  Holland  has  returned  to  England,  and  the 
Chinese  boatswain  has  turned  out  to  be  no  more  Christian  than 
the  sacred  tooth  of  Buddha. 

It  is  dreadfully  baffling  to  ask  questions  about  missionaries 
from  one  end  of  China  to  another,  and  then  try  to  form  any 
coherent  conclusions.  One  might  almost  as  well  invite  opinions 
about  the  Jews  as  a class.  And,  strange  to  say,  this  divergence 
of  opinion  is  to  be  found  exactly  amongst  those  whose  long  resi- 
dence amongst  the  Chinese  entitles  them  to  be  regarded  as  re- 
spectable witnesses.  To  get  thoroughly  warmed  up  in  the  cause 
of  converting  John  Chinaman,  one  must  go  to  Temple  Hill,  near 
Chefoo,  and  talk  with  Dr.  Corbett.  He  has  worked  in  China 
almost  as  long  as  had  Father  Palladius  when  I first  knew  him. 
Dr.  Corbett  is  a splendid  type  of  American,  dressed  exactly  as 
though  in  his  native  Kew  England.  He  wears  a long  beard,  looks 
about  six  feet  in  height,  and  his  eyes  sparkle  with  humor.  His 
wife  has  been  trained  in  the  hospital  service  and  helps  him  on 
the  medical  side  of  his  mission.  He  welcomed  me  to  a home 
equipped  for  family  happiness  on  the  Anglo-American  plan,  not 
the  least  important  item  being  the  prattle  of  his  children.  One 
must  have  been  alone  in  China  to  understand  the  gratitude  of  a 
white  man  unexpectedly  rescued  from  the  depressing  surround- 
ings of  Chinese  travel,  and  permitted  to  sit  down  in  a homelike 
family  circle.  Dr.  Corbett  told  me  that  China  was  being  rapidly 
prepared  for  a grand  Christian  awakening;  that  he  and  his  col- 
leagues had  made  a large  number  of  converts,  but  that  there  were 
still  more  who  were  restrained  from  avowing  their  faith  because 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

the}^  feared  evil  consequences  from  a social  and  political  point  of 
view.  This  was  told  me  in  the  autumn  of  1898,  and  I had  heard 
the  same  thing  at  the  same  place  in  1876.  Now,  Dr.  Corbett  is 
a practical  worker  and  had  cultivated  this  field  for  thirty-six 
years.  He  assured  me  that  in  that  time  he  had  noticed  a great 
improvement  in  Shantung;  that  the  natives  had  laid  aside  much 
of  the  hostility  which  they  formerly  showed  toward  strangers. 
For  instance,  in  his  early  days  such  was  the  hatred  of  the  foreigner 
that  inn-keepers  barred  their  gates  when  they  saw  a white  man 
approaching.  ^‘To  secure  a night’s  lodging,”  said  Dr.  Corbett, 
‘*1  would  have  to  send  my  baggage  and  servants  ahead,  and  only 
appear  myself  when  these  had  been  installed  and  my  room  prac- 
tically engaged.” 

It  is  not  often  that  we  find  the  Chinaman  outwitted  by  the 
white  man,  least  of  all  by  the  missionary.  ^‘Now,”  said  Dr.  Cor- 
bett, “1  travel  up  and  down  Shantung,  visiting  our  different 
stations,  and  am  received  like  any  other  traveller.” 

He  took  me  over  the  schools  of  the  mission,  and  enlarged  with 
satisfaction  upon  the  numbers  who  went  forth  to  spread  the  light 
of  the  white  man’s  civilization,  if  not  Bible  doctrine.  Dr.  Corbett 
believes  that  the  Chinese  who  come  to  him  do  so  from  a pure  love 
of  religion.  For  my  own  part,  I am  inclined  to  think  that  Dr. 
Corbett’s  success  is  due  mainly  to  his  own  persuasive  personality; 
to  his  thorough  knowledge  of  Chinese  custom;  and,  above  all,  to 
the  fact  that  in  his  schools  the  alleged  converts  receive  an  educa- 
tion which  is  of  great  practical  value  to  them  as  merchants  or 
mechanics.  It  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  any  Chinaman,  after 
receiving  the  material  benefits  conferred  by  the  missionaiy  school, 
should  ffo  back  to  his  fellows  unmodified.  A course  in  mechanics, 
arithmetic,  history  and  philosophy,  coupled  with  some  practical 
demonstrations  in  the  field  of  chemistry,  must  leave  its  impression 
on  the  mind  even  of  a Celestial.  But  those  who  know  the  devious 
mind  of  that  strange  yellow  creature  consider  him  capable  of  pre- 
tending Christianity  to  the  missionaries  just  as  long  as  he  can 
draw  a profit  therefrom. 

At  Chefoo,  I had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  several  Protestant 
missionaries,  amongst  them  Miss  Downing,  whom  I had  known 
in  the  same  place  and  at  the  same  work  twenty-two  years  before. 
There  are  about  a hundred  and  sixty  American  missionaries  in 
Shantung,  and  to  judge  by  those  at  Chefoo,  their  work  is  earnest 


MISSIONS  Am  MISSIONABIES  IN  CHINA. 

and  animated  by  an  enthusiastic  belief  in  the  ultimate  evangeliza- 
tion of  China.  One  afternoon  I was  invited  to  address  a prayer- 
meeting, where  a large  roomful  of  English  and  American  mission- 
aries of  both  sexes  were  gathered  together,  a few  in  Chinese  garb. 
I felt  horribly  out  of  place;  but  yet  I was  enormously  impressed 
by  the  courage  and  devotion  to  a lofty  ideal  stamped  upon  the 
faces  about  me.  There  are  all  sorts  of  missionaries  in  China,  and 
of  them  all  those  typified  by  Dr.  Corbett  have  the  most  spiritual 
vitality.  His  is  the  religion  of  the  Puritan  who  preaches  the 
Saviour  crucified,  and  moves  the  human  heart  by  truth  and  truth 
alone.  The  men  of  his  mission  will  preach  to  Chinamen  as  to  a 
New  England  audience,  or  as  our  Saviour  preached  by  the  Sea 
of  Galilee.  A blessing  goes  with  such  brave  efforts,  whether  the 
reward  be  success  or  death  at  the  hands  of  a Chinese  mob. 

My  old  friend  Palladius  called  the  American  missionaries  at 
Chefoo  enthusiastic  babies.  My  American  friends  regarded  the 
Russian  Archimandrite  as  a cynical  fox. 

Of  course,  I visited  the  Jesuit  mission  at  Zickawei  to  see  what 
changes  a quarter  of  a century  had  wrought  in  that  place.  There 
were  some  new  faces,  but  the  spirit  was  unchanged.  Chinese 
orphans,  or  rather  foundlings,  were  being  brought  up  to  useful 
trades  in  this  vast,  missionary  machine  shop.  Beautiful  altar- 
pieces,  representing  Christian  saints,  were  being  chiselled  by  Chi- 
nese boys,  who  would  probably  soon  be  burning  J oss-sticks  to  their 
favorite  idols.  The  good  Father  pointed  out  some  charred  re- 
mains of  church  furniture,  and  told  me  the  story  of  how  the 
Chinese  mob  had  set  fire  to  their  church,  after  killing  and  maim- 
ing some  of  the  congregation.  In  China  one  becomes  accustomed 
to  this  chronicle  of  murder,  which  is  a symptom  of  the  chronic 
w^ar  between  mandarin  and  missionary.  I have  forgotten  the 
name  of  the  place  where  this  particular  massacre  happened,  nor 
can  I remember  the  dozens  like  it.  It  would  surprise  the  abstract 
Chinaman,  however,  to  learn  that  these  fragments  of  charred 
saints,  so  far  from  discouraging  further  missionary  effort,  only 
heighten  the  zeal  of  those  volunteering  for  a like  risk. 

The  Jesuit  fathers  were  mainly  French,  though  I had  chats 
with  one  or  two  from  Bavaria  and  the  Rhine.  They  wore  the 
Chinese  queue  and  long  robes,  such  as  the  local  men  of  learning 
affect.  The  Jesuits  have  from  the  very  beginning  of  their  mis- 
sionary efforts  adopted  the  policy  of  beating  the  Chinaman  on  his 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

own  ground;  challenging  his  respect  by  a show  of  learning,  not 
merely  in  the  sciences  of  Europe,  but  also  in  the  classics  of  Con- 
fucius. Dr.  Corbett,  on  the  contrary,  and  with  him  most 
Evangelical  workers,  are  opposed  to  imitating  the  Chinese  in  their 
dress  or  in  anything  which  implies  a lowering  of  the  missionary 
to  their  level.  The  Bible  Christian  will  make  no  pact  with 
heathen  philosophy,  whereas  the  disciple  of  Loyola  will  conclude 
any  bargain  by  which  he  may  gain  ever  so  small  an  advance  upon 
the  enemy. 

On  the  occasion  of  my  first  visit  to  Zickawei,  I was  in  company 
with  the  French  minister  at  Pekin,  and  the  priests  entertained  us 
with  food  and  wine  which  rivalled  those  of  Father  Palladius. 
Standing  at  the  window.  I looked  out  upon  a flat  landscape 
emphasized  by  a small  elevation  on  the  horizon.  I asked  the 
priest  what  that  was.  He  answered  that  it  was  the  shrine  of  a 
saint,  and  that  the  Chinese  Christians  made  pilgrimages  thither 
once  a year.  "When  I pressed  him  to  tell  how  he  managed  to  get 
Christian  saints  at  this  place,  he  shrugged  his  shoulders,  smiled 
pleasantly,  and  remarked  that,  as  the  Chinese  enjoyed  gatherings 
and  gongs  and  banners  and  such  tom-foolery,  the  missionaries 
had  been  compelled  to  create  this  pilgrimage  or  discourage  Chris- 
tianit}\  Hence  this  shrine. 

In  the  court}'ard  he  showed  me  a beautiful  statue  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  with  two  Chinese  in  native  garb  kneeling  below.  The 
A'irgin  was  not  in  Chinese  dress,  but  I suppose  that  will  come 
in  time. 

This  missionary  institution  has  a school  of  architecture,  where 
designs  are  made  for  Catholic  buildings  throughout  China.. 
Large  numbers  of  books  are  printed  here,  all  the  work  being  done 
by  Chinese  foundlings,  under  the  superintendence  of  the  white 
priests.  Wood-cutting  and  lithography  are  taught,  also  printing 
in  color.  Some  lurid  posters  were  shown  to  me,  which  were 
destined  to  hang  up  in  Chinese  Christian  chapels.  Their  purpose 
was  to  discourage  the  bad  Chinamen  and  stimulate  the  good 
ones.  One  poster  represented  the  death-bed  of  the  bad  Chinaman, 
whose  vdekedness  was  attested  by  the  opium  pipe  and  the  gaming 
dice  at  his  bedside.  'A  black  devil,  with  horns,  tail  and  wings, 
had  fastened  an  iron  collar  around  his  neck,  to  which  was  linked 
a long  iron  chain.  Dragons  were  rising  from  a hole  in  the 
ground,  likewise  monstrous  flames.  The  black  devil  was  pro- 


MISSIONS  AND  MISSIONABIES  IN  CHINA. 

ceeding  to  drag  the  screaming  and  resisting  wicked  Chinaman  to 
the  flaming  hole  in  the  floor,  while  his  wife  and  children  looked 
on  in  distress.  At  the  top  of  the  picture  was  seated  our  Saviour, 
with  Chinese  slippers  on  his  feet,  and  an  expression  on  his  face 
that  was  enough  like  that  of  a mandarin  to  please  the  average 
convert.  Some  angels  with  Chinese  slippers  were  flitting  about, 
chasing  devils. 

The  pendant  to  this  was  the  death  of  a good  Chinaman,  where 
the  devil  looked  very  much  discouraged  as  he  disappeared  down 
a flaming  trapdoor  in  the  foreground.  An  angel  in  Chinese  slip- 
pers was  watching  by  the  bedside,  and  above  was  represented  a 
Chinaman  in  full  official  dress,  kneeling  on  clouds  before  some 
Christian  figures,  whom  I took  to  represent  Saint  Joseph,  the 
Virgin  Mary,  and  our  Saviour. 

Two  of  these  pious  posters  were  devoted  respectively  to  Heaven 
and  Hell.  To  a Chinaman,  Hell  is  a pretty  simple  conception, 
which  is  refreshed  every  day  in  his  daily  walks  about  his  native 
town,  and  whenever  a criminal  court  is  in  session.  The  hell- 
poster,  therefore,  merely  outdid  Dante  in  the  matter  of  snakes 
and  devils  tormenting  wretches  already  crazy  with  suffering.  The 
poster  of  Heaven  was  more  subtle.  There  was  a choir  of  slanting- 
eyed  angels,  beating  gongs,  tom-toms  and  many  other  instruments 
vaguely  hinted  at.  In  the  background  were  enthroned  the  Crea- 
tor and  our  Saviour,  though  the  chief  object  of  adoration  appeared 
to  be  the  Virgin  Mary.  In  the  foreground  were  a dozen  or  so 
happy  faces  of  saints,  amongst  which  were  emperors,  kings,  popes, 
bishops,  and — more  conspicuous  than  any — two  Chinamen.  For 
the  sake  of  local  prejudice,  the  women  were  bunched  separate  from 
the  men. 

These  posters  were  doing  duty  in  1876  and  are  so  popular 
to-day  that  they  are  constantly  reproduced  at  the  mission. 

The  foundlings  I saw  were  mostly  scrofulous.  Father  Beck, 
a Bavarian,  told  me  this  was  a common  complaint  all  over  China. 

The  Jesuits  were  the  pioneer  missionaries  in  China,  and  to-day 
do  a great  work.  But  now,  as  then,  their  success  lies  not  in 
preaching  things  spiritual,  so  much  as  in  demonstrating  the  power 
of  the  white  man  as  compared  to  the  yellow.  Every  sailor-man  in 
the  Far  East  has  gratitude  toward  the  Jesuits  of  Zickawei,  be- 
cause they  tell  him  when  to  expect  bad  weather.  The  Eathers 
have  a well-equipped  observatory  connected  by  wire  with  many 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

% 

stations  in  the  Eastern  Seas_,  and  thus  they  can  foretell  the  arrival 
of  typhoons.  It  is  a Jesuit  priest  who  observes  the  sun,  and  at 
exactly  twelve  o’clock  touches  an  electric  button  to  move  the  time- 
ba]l  by  which  Shanghai  Harbor  corrects  her  ships’  chronometers. 

I was  shown  a transit  instrument  made  in  Xew  York,  and  a 
full  line  of  reports  of  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  the  United  States 
Weather  Bureau,  and  other  scientific  bodies.  On  the  walls  were 
portraits  of  famous  Jesuit  missionaries,  amongst  them  Ricci, 
Schall,  and  Yerbiest,  all  in  the  gaudy  dress  of  Chinese  grandees. 
In  the  adjoining  room  a Chinese  convert  was  working  out  t}^hoon 
probabilities,  while  in  the  yard  below  sore-headed  foundlings  were 
playing  about  the  feet  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  It  was  a weird  pic- 
ture this — the  co-operation  of  science  and  Roman  Catholicism  for 
the  overthrow  of  Buddha  and  Confucius. 

The  Bavarian  priest  was  a jolly  man  all  round.  Like  his 
brethren,  he  had  come  here,  under  vows  of  poverty  and  celibacy, 
to  spend  his  whole  life  in  the  service  of  people  who  wished  him  ill 
in  his  work.  He  talked  merrily  about  the  relative  merits  of 
Munich  beer  while  expecting  at*  any  moment  an  order  to  proceed 
to  a station  where  life  was  highly  insecure. 

The  Jesuit  has,  of  course,  only  contempt  for  evangelical 
methods.  He  regards  the  Chinaman  as  a creature  essentially 
different  from  the  white  man,  and  consequently  as  one  whose 
senses  and  emotions  must  be  differently  awakened.  The  idea  of  a 
Christian  revival  in  China,  on  the  plan  of  the  Methodist  camp- 
meeting, is  regarded  by  him  as  absurd.  He  proposes  not  to  revo- 
lutionize, but  merely  to  modify  what  already  exists.  As  the  early 
Christian  Church  absorbed  amongst  the  Romans  many  heathen 
names  and  customs,  so,  in  China,  the  Jesuits,  from  the  days  of 
Ricci  to  our  own,  have  sought,  not  so  much  to  expel  the  local 
religions  as  to  Romanize  them,  if  not  Christianize  them.  The 
Jesuit  finds  much  that  is  admirable  in  Buddha  and  Confucius; 
nor  does  he  deny  the  possibility  of  a Chinaman’s  being  a valuable 
convert  and  yet  burning  J oss-sticks  at  the  graves  of  his  ancestors. 
The  Jesuit  tells  the  learned  Chinaman  that  Confucius  was  prac- 
tically a Christian  so  far  as  his  moral  philosophy  is  concerned, 
and  that  Buddhism  has  many  good  points;  but  that  the  Roman 
C'atholic  is  the  religion  which  embodies  what  is  good  in  every 
system,  with  the  additional  advantage  of  having  expelled  what 
was  idolatrous. 


MISSIONS  ANI)  MISSIONARIES  IN  CHINA. 

In  the  days  of  the  early  Jesuits  this  line  of  argument  was 
fairly  successful,  but  nowadays  so  strong  has  the  feeling  against 
foreigners  become  that  the  Chinaman  is  inclined  to  stick  to  his 
own  gods  merely  because  they  are  Chinese,  and  to  distrust  the 
gods  of  other  nations  merely  because  they  are  of  the  foreigner. 

The  American  missionaries  have  the  hardest  time  of  any,  be- 
cause they  are  so  much  at  the  mercy  of  their  Consul.  Our  Consul 
in  the  Far  East  represents  to  the  American  merchant  and  mis^ 
sionary  the  whole  round  of  governmental  functions,  civil,  military, 
and  even  ecclesiastical.  Mr.  Fowler,  of  Chefoo,  told  me  that  he 
was  the  only  one  out  of  eleven  American  Consuls  in  China  who 
had  been  in  that  position  more  than  a year.  If  a missionary 
wishes  to  make  a will,  to  do  any  legal  act,  to  obtain  redress  at  law, 
the  American  Consul  is  his  judge.  If  a missionary  desires  to 
marry,  as  often  happens,  he  has  to  come  to  the  Consulate.  This 
is  sometimes  embarrassing,  for  missionaries  are  not  rich,  as  a rule, 
and  travelling  in  China  is  apt  to  be  injurious  to  health,  if  not 
dangerous  to  personal  safety.  Imagine  an  American  lady,  per- 
haps a thousand  miles  from  an  American  Consulate,  compelled  to 
travel  under  the  horrible  conditions  prevailing  in  China  in  order 
to  be  declared  legally  married.  We  in  America  naturally  ask, 
why  another  missionary,  an  ordained  clergyman,  could  not  marry 
them.  United  States  law  has,  in  China,  at  least,  been  construed 
in  the  manner  most  likely  to  swell  the  fees  of  the  Consul. 

The  Eev.  Dr.  Sims,  while  I was  in  China,  protested  against 
being  compelled  to  make  long  and  dangerous  journeys  through 
China  for  matrimonial  purposes.  He  stated  that  Dr.  King,  at 
Tai-an-foo,  when  engaged  to  Miss  Knight  of  the  same  city,  had 
been  required  to  go  to  Chinkiang,  under  their  protest,  to  be  mar- 
ried. On  their  return  up  the  Grand  Canal,  she  took  small-pox 
and  died  within  one  week  after  reaching  home. 

In  another  instance,  equally  well  authenticated,  the  Kev.  Dr. 
Eoyall  and  Miss  Sullivan  were  married  by  a fellow-missionary, 
after  having  obtained  the  consent  of  the  Consul-General  at  Shang- 
hai. Some  time  after  the  marriage,  however,  this  same  Consul 
coolly  informed  them  that  he  had  been  mistaken,  and  that  they 
must  come  to  the  Consulate  at  Shanghai  and  go  through  the  cere- 
mony over  again. 

Please  imagine  the  feelings  of  Miss  Sullivan,  thus  charged  by 
the  highest  legal  tribunal  with  having  lived  with  a man  who  was 
VOL.  CLXXI — NO.  524  3 


TEE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

not  her  husband!  This  so  affected  the  young  lady  that  her  life 
at  one  time  was  deemed  in  danger. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Blaylock  and  Miss  Humphries,  who  were  mar- 
ried at  Tai-an-foo  by  a brother  missionary  before  about  eighteen 
English  and  American  witnesses,  were  subsequently  informed  that 
they  were  illegally  united,  and  must  proceed  to  do  the  thing  over 
again  before  our  Consul  in  Shanghai.  They  did  so  at  great  cost 
and  personal  risk.  In  returning  up  the  Grand  Canal,  so  said  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Sims,  Mr.  Blaylock  was  taken  seriously  ill,  was  kept  a 
year  in  bed  at  Chin-an-foo,  and  managed  to  reach  home  with  ex- 
treme difficulty.  He  is  now  in  America,  a physical  wreck. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Hudson  had  gone  with  his  betrothed  to  Chin- 
kiang.  On  their  return  Mr.  Hudson  was  attacked  by  robbers,  and 
narrowly  escaped  with  his  life. 

The  history  of  evangelical  mission-work  in  China  is  a painful 
chronicle  of  persecution,  nobly  sustained  by  a large  body  of  de- 
voted men  and  women  frequently  poorly  equipped  for  their  work, 
and  always  inadequately  organized.  If  all  Christian  missionaries 
could  unite  under  one  head  and  proceed  upon  some  coherent  plan 
of  operations,  the  result  would  no  doubt  be  better.  At  present, 
the  Chinese  marvel  at  the  lack  of  unity  amongst  Christians,  par- 
ticularly when  a Catholic  chapel  opens  its  doors  close  to  a Baptist 
meeting-house,  and  the  ministers  of  each  tell  the  Chinese  that 
their  particular  faith  only  is  efficacious. 

The  missionary  has  in  China  to  combat  a vast  volume  of  in- 
herited conceit  and  prejudice.  He  has  to  deal  with  Orientals 
conscious  of  a historic  sequence  longer  than  that  of  any  white 
dynasty,  full  of  triumphs  in  the  domain  of  science,  and  rich  in 
philosophy.  The  Chinese  stood  at  the  head  of  civilization  when 
Europe  was  but  a barbarous  province.  Hundreds  of  inventions 
are  claimed  by  the  Chinese  at  a period  when  the  learning  of 
Europe  was  monopolized  by  a handful  of  monks.  The  China- 
man despises  the  profession  of  arms,  and  so  far  he  knows  of 
Europe  little  beyond  her  power  as  manifested  in  a military  man- 
ner. He  shuns  intercourse  with  the  outer  barbarian,  for  the  cus- 
toms of  his  ancestors  are  sacred  in  his  eyes,  and  he  considers  the 
future  of  China  bound  up  with  devotion  to  the  existing  order  of 
things.  A highly  cultivated  missionary  who  can  confer  with 
learned  Chinese  scholars  can  do  much  to  remove  unfounded 
prejudice  in  the  small  circle  of  his  acquaintance,  and  this  I be- 


MISSIOm  AND  MISSIONARIES  IN  CHINA. 

lieve  he  does.  The  Chinaman  who  sees  daily  the  good  work 
done  by  a white  man^  if  he  does  not  himself  become  a Christian, 
at  least  lays  aside  the  desire  to  murder  him. 

It  is  worth  noting  that  where  the  white  man  in  China  is 
seen  most  frequently,  there,  little  by  little,  he  has  awakened  the 
most  tolerance  amongst  the  natives.  How,  then,  can  we  account 
for  the  strange  massacres  that  have  taken  place  at  short  inter- 
vals, not  merely  in  the  interior,  but  at  treaty  ports  like  the  one 
at  Tientsin  in  1870?  A study  of  the  different  assaults  upon  for- 
eigners in  China  forces  us  reluctantly  to  the  conclusion  that  in 
almost  every  case  these  have  been  instigated  and  carried  out,  if 
not  by  Government  agents,  at  least  with  their  consent  and  ap- 
proval. The  public  is  officially  informed,  in  every  case,  that  such 
and  such  a mission  station  was  destroyed  by  the  mob,  and  that 
the  Chinese  Government  could  not  possibly  prevent  such  out- 
breaks. The  Chinese  Government,  however,  has  always  succeeded 
in  punishing  severely  any  disobedience  against  its  own  orders.  It 
is  only  when  the  victim  is  a white  man  that  the  mandarins  prove 
powerless  to  interfere.  Even  when  ringleaders  have  been  indi- 
cated, these  have  always  found  Chinese  protection ; and,  in  short, 
China  from  top  to  bottom  has  given  abundant  evidence  that  she 
does  not  desire  to  maintain  her  share  in  treaties  which  encourage 
white  people  to  reside  in  the  Celestial  Empire. 

The  German  Emperor,  when  he  avenged  the  death  of  his  mis- 
sionaries by  seizing  Kiao  Chao,  acted  in  a manner  strange  to  our 
rules  of  international  law,  but  under  the  circumstances  he  gave 
China  a lesson  that  she  sadly  required.  It  is  a lesson  which 
should  be  repeated  on  every  fitting  occasion ; for,  in  the  last  three 
centuries,  it  is  the  only  one  by  which  she  has  ever  profited  in  her 
intercourse  with  the  white  man. 

In  1647,  the  East  India  Company  commenced  British  trade 
with  China  by  sending  to  the  Canton  Kiver  the  four  good  ships 
^^Dragon,”  ^^Sun,”  ^^Catherine,’’  and  ^^Anne.^’  They  anchored  off 
the  Bogue  Forts,  and  at  the  request  of  the  mandarins  waited  for 
the  promised  trade  facilities.  They  waited  four  days,  at  the  end 
of  which  time  the  Chinese  forts  opened  fire  upon  them  with 
^Torty-six  of  iron-caste  ordnance,  each  piece  between  six  and  seven 
hundredweight.’^  The  ancient  chronicler  then  remarks:  ^‘^Here- 
with  the  whole  fleet,  being  instantly  incensed,  did  on  a sudden 
display  the  bloody  ensign.”  The  result  of  it  was  a landing  party. 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

the  capture  of  the  Fort,  ajid  an  excellent  understanding  with  the 
mandarins.  From  Canton  Kiver,  in  1647,  to  Kiao  Chao  Bay,  in 
1897,  no  better  method  of  dealing  with  official  China  has  yet  been 
devised.  It  has  always  been  the  same  old  story  of  official  men- 
dacity and  treachery,  followed  by  an  explosion  of  wrath  and 
violence  from  the  white  man’s  side,  after  which  has  ensued  a 
period  of  good  understanding  and  trade  expansion. 

Up  to  the  time  when  Queen  Victoria  ascended  the  throne  of 
England,  Anglo-Saxon  traders  were  tolerated  at  Canton  much 
as  infected  emigrants  are  treated  in  New  York  harbor.  They 
were  the  victims  of  official  insolence  and  interference;  forbidden 
to  have  their  wives  and  families  with  them;  forbidden  to  go 
into  the  country ; forbidden  to  enter  the  Chinese  city.  No  China- 
man was  allowed  to  give  them  instruction,  and  their  intercourse 
was  strictly  limited  to  officials  specially  selected.  No  changes  have 
been  effected  during  the  many  years  that  have  passed,  save  such 
as  have  been  wrung  from  an  unwilling  government  by  threats  of 
bombardment.  The  wffiite  man  has  had  no  serious  war  with 
China,  speaking  in  a European  sense.  The  Opium  War,  the 
Lorcha  Arrow  War,  the  Anglo-French  Expedition  of  1860 — these 
and  similar  smaller  enterprises  were  all  undertaken  to  avenge 
gross  breaches  of  the  law  of  nations.  The  history  of  England’s  in- 
tercourse with  China  shows  but  too  clearly  that,  so  far  from  having 
misused  her  strength  in  bullying  a weaker  nation,  she  has,  to  an 
extraordinary  extent,  submitted  to  official  insult  and  violation  of 
treaty  rights  rather  than  have  recourse  to  force. 

When  Commodore  Perry  anchored  his  fleet  in  Yeddo  Bay, 
less  than  half  a century  ago,  he  awakened  a people  artificially 
hampered  by  mediaeval  custom,  but  whose  bodies  and  brains  pul- 
sated to  the  calls  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Japan  arose  as  one 
man,  and  to-day  honors  the  name  of  Perry  with  a fervor  only 
second  to  that  which  we  have  for  Christopher  Columbus.  Europe 
has  been  thundering  at  the  gates  of  China  for  three  hundred 
years,  but  this  thunder  has  started  no  more  echo  than  moist  fire- 
crackers. One  city  of  China  may  be  smashed  to  pieces,  but  the 
next  takes  no  interest  in  it.  A whole  province  may  be  overrun 
by  the  enemy  without  calling  forth  any  help  from  its  neighbors-. 
Through  generation  after  generation  of  officialism,  ignorant,  re- 
trograde and  corrupt,  the  great  body  of  China  has  become  torpid, 
and  wdll  remain  so  for  just  so  long  as  the  white  man  permits  the 


MISSIONS  AND  MISSIONARIES  IN  CHINA. 

present  administration  to  persist.  The  vast  official  body  of  China 
has,  or  believes  that  it  has,  a direct  pecuniary  interest  in  the  re- 
pression, or  at  least  the  discouragement,  of  foreign  intercourse. 
The  official  ring  of  China  covers  that  country  to  a degree  not  far 
removed  from  that  to  which  Tammany  Hall  controls  New  York. 
The  mandarin  has  large  vested  interests  which  are  all  threatened 
by  intercourse  with  people  of  our  education;  consequently  the 
rulers  of  cities  encourage  their  people  to  believe  that  dirty  streets 
are  good,  and  that  pestilence  must  be  combated  by  backsheesh  to 
the  priests.  The  white  man  forms  a settlement  wherein  the 
streets  are  cleaned,  lighted  and  policed;  where  hospitals  care  for 
the  sick;  where  courts  of  justice  are  open  to  all.  Such  things 
as  these  are  an  abomination  to  the  orthodox  Chinese  official,  to 
the  same  degree  that  the  late  Colonel  Waring,  who  first  cleaned 
the  streets  of  Yew  York,  was  an  eyesore  to  professional  poli- 
ticians. 

Chinese  officialdom  is  at  war  with  the  white  man’s  civiliza- 
tion, and  it  fights  with  the  weapons  it  deems  most  effective. 
Gunboats  and  battalions  are  not  to  its  taste.  So  it  makes  a treaty 
every  paragraph  of  which  it  proceeds  to  nullify  the  moment  the 
ink  is  dry.  It  instigates  murder,  and  then  explains  officially  that 
it  was  the  mob  that  was  responsible. 

In  1858  there  was  signed  the  famous  treaty  of  Tientsin.  The 
eighth  article  of  this  treaty  is  regarded  as  something  of  a Magna 
Charta,  at  least  by  the  missionary.  It  reads : 

“The  Christian  religion,  as  professed  by  Protestants  or  Roman 
Catholics,  inculcates  the  practice  of  virtue  and  teaches  man  to  do  as 
he  would  be  done  by.  Persons  teaching  it,  or  professing  it,  therefore, 
shall  alike  be  entitled  to  the  protection  of  the  Chinese  authorities,  nor 
shall  any  such,  peaceably  pursuing  their  calling,  and  not  offending 
against  the  laws,  be  persecuted  or  interfered  with.” 

So  far  as  paper  and  ink  are  concerned,  the  white  man  in 
China  has  secured  as  much  official  protection  as  he  needs  for  car- 
rying on  trade  or  conducting  missionary  enterprise.  But,  side 
by  side  with  these  generous  treaty  concessions,  the  Chinese  Gov- 
ernment has  tolerated  the  systematic  incitement  of  the  mob  to 
every  act  calculated  to  make  treaties  of  no  avail.  So  far  back 
as  1754,  foreign  residents  complained  that  injurious  posters  were 
annually  put  up  by  the  government,  accusing  foreigners  of  hor- 
rible crimes,  and  intended  to  expose  them  to  the  contempt  of  the 
populace.” 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 


Even  then,  the  accusations  were  made  that  missionaries  gouged 
out  the  eyes  of  foundlings  and  mutilated  women  in  a vile  man- 
ner— charges  which  have  been  persisted  in  to  our  day.  When 
vigorously  addressed  by  a combination  of  foreign  powers,  the 
Pekin  government  has  always  officially  repudiated  the  authors  of 
these  posters;  but  at  the  same  time  it  has  given  private  intima- 
tion that  this  propaganda  was  pleasing  to  the  Emperor.  Indeed, 
those  who  publish  the  filthy  posters  invoke  official  sanction  by 
printing,  as  preface,  the  Sacred  Edict — a sort  of  paternal  address 
from  the  throne  promulgated  by  the  joint  efforts  of  two  canonized 
emperors  some  two  centuries  ago.  Dr.  Williams,  in  his  ^^Middle 
Kingdom,’^  says  that  this  document  is  regarded  as  a most  sacred 
command,  which  is  proclaimed  throughout  the  Empire  by  the 
local  officers  on  the  1st  and  15th  days  of  every  month. 

As  a pendant  of  the  Tientsin  Treaty  it  is  worth  preserving. 
It  reads  thus: 

“With  respect  to  heterodox  books  not  in  accordance  with  the 
teachings  of  the  sages,  and  those  tending  to  excite  and  disturb  the 
people,  to  give  rise  to  differences  and  irregularities,  and  to  undermine 
the  foundations  of  all  things;  all  such  teach  corrupt  and  dangerous 
doctrines  which  must  be  suppressed  and  exterminated.  . . . From 

ancient  times,  the  three  religions  have  been  propagated  together.  Be- 
sides Confucianism,  which  holds  the  pre-eminence,  we  have  Buddhism 
and  Taoism.  . . . There  is,  however,  a class  of  vagabond  adven- 
turers (Christian)  who  under  the  pretext  of  teaching  these  systems 
(Buddhism,  etc.),  bring  them  into  the  greatest  disrepute,  making  false 
parade  of  what  is  propitious  and  unpropitious,  and  of  future  rewards 
and  punishments,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  currency  to  their  foolish 
and  unfounded  stories.  Their  object  in  the  beginning  is  to  make  a 
living.  By  degrees  they  collect  men  and  women  into  promiscuous 
gatherings  for  the  purpose  of  burning  incense.  . . . The  worst  of 

all  is  that  there  lurk  within  these  assemblies  treacherous,  depraved 
and  designing  persons,  who  form  dangerous  combinations  and  pledge 
themselves  to  each  other  by  oaths.  They  meet  in  darkness  and  dis- 
perse at  dawn.  They  imperil  their  lives,  sin  against  righteousness, 
and  deceive  and  entrap  the  people.  . . . Such  is  the  religion  of  the 

West,  which  reveres  the  Bord  of  heaven.  It  also  is  not  to  be  regarded 
as  orthodox.  Because  its  teachers  (the  early  Jesuits)  were  well  versed 
in  mathematics,  our  government  made  use  of  them.  Of  this  you 
must  not  be  ignorant.  As  to  unauthorized  doctrines  which  deceive  the 
people,  our  laws  cannot  tolerate  them.  For  false  and  corrupt  teachers 
our  government  has  fixed  punishments.” 

Thus  with  one  hand  the  Chinese  Government  promises  the 
white  man  legal  protection,  and  with  the  other  pledges  his  favor 
tc  the  mob  when  it  guts  the  missionary  compound  and  murders 
the  unorthodox  inmates. 


MISSIONS  AND  MISSIONARIES  IN  CHINA, 


The  public  misrepresentations  of  the  spirit  and  aims  of  the 
Christian  religion  and  of  the  objects  which  animate  Christian  " 
Goissionaries  in  their  work  are  almost  incredible.  I have  before  - 
me  a specimen  of  the  posters  which  are  from  time  to  time  exhib- 
ited throughout  the  country  with  a view  to  bring  indignation  and 
contempt  upon  the  foreigner.  It  represents  our  Saviour  in  the 
shape  of  a hog.  He  is  being  worshipped  by  two  ^Toreign  devils/’ 
the  one  marked  ^Teacher/’  the  other  ^^disciple.”  These  two  are 
branded  with  the  most  insulting  epithets  known  to  Chinese  vocab- 
ulary, notably  those  indicating  lack  of  sexual  virtue.  One  inscrip- 
tion reads : ^‘^This  is  the  beast  which  the  foreign  devils  follow. 
The  hog’s  skin  and  bristles  are  still  upon  him.” 

Down  the  left-hand  side  of  the  picture  and  in  the  middle  of 
the  poster  are  inscriptions  which  are  absolutely  too  obscene  for 
publication. 

The  interest  of  this  poster  lies  not  in  its  indecency  and  quaint 
exhibition  of  ignorance,  but  in  the  fact  that  it  has  been  distrib- 
uted with  official  connivance  throughout  China;  that  it  has  been 
exposed  in  public  places  alongside  of  imperial  edicts  forbidding 
the  publication  of  such  posters;  and  that  whenever  massacres 
have  taken  place  the  mob  has  been  first  inflamed  by  teaching  of 
this  nature. 

In  1870,  on  the  21st  of  June,  the  mob  at  Tientsin  attacked 
the  French  mission,  murdering  ten  Sisters  of  Mercy,  amongst 
others.  This  massacre  was  followed  by  a trial  which  even  the 
most  careful  students  of  things  Chinese  regarded  as  a fraud.  A 
dozen  or  so  of  innocent  coolies  were  decapitated,  but  the  real 
authors  were  rewarded,  because  they  were  high  in  office.  In  the 
midst  of  the  Franco-German  War  this  horrible  massacre  was 
little  noticed  in  Europe ; and,  after  all,  it  differed  only  in  degree 
from  a dozen  others,  all  instigated  by  the  official  organization 
which  prepared  the  filthy  posters  to  which  I have  referred. 

The  Tientsin  massacres  were  preceded  by  a flood  of  posters 
teaching  the  mob  that  missionary  establishments  abducted  native 
women  and  children  for  purposes  of  mutilation. 

Every  diabolical  practice  is  attributed  to  missionaries,  not 
merely  for  religious  purposes,  but  for  the  mere  greed  of  money. 

The  Chinaman  is  taught  to  think  that  they  extract  the  eyes 
of  his  dead  countrymen  in  order  to  use  them  in  the  manufacture 
of  precious  metals.  Some  recent  cartoons  even  accuse  Christians 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 


of  gouging  Chinese  eyes  out  before  death.  One  cartoon  exhibits 
to  the  mob  two  murderous  missionaries  in  the  act  of  taking  out 
eyes,  while  a couple  of  blind  Chinamen  are  groping  about  in 
misery.  This  cartoon  is  headed : ^^The  Hog  Sect  gouging  out  the 
eyes.”  A popular  pamphlet  distributed  by  officials  for  the  pur- 
pose of  inciting  hatred  of  the  foreigner  makes  this  statement: 

“In  case  of  funerals,  the  religious  teachers  eject  all  the  relatives 
and  friends  from  the  house,  and  the  corpse  is  put  into  the  coffin  with 
closed  doors.  Both  eyes  are  secretly  taken  out,  and  the  orifices  sealed 
up  with  plaster.  This  is  what  is  called  ‘sealing  the  eyes  for  the  West- 
ern journey.’  . . . The  reason  for  extracting  the  eyes  is  this:  From 

one  hundred  pounds  of  Chinese  lead  eight  pounds  of  silver  can  be 
extracted,  and  the  remaining  ninety-two  pounds  of  lead  can  be  sold  at 
the  original  cost,  but  the  only  way  to  obtain  this  silver  is  by  com- 
pounding the  lead  with  the  eyes  of  Chinamen.  The  eyes  of  foreigners 
are  of  no  use  for  this  purpose,  hence  they  do  not  take  out  the  eyes  of 
their  own  people,  but  only  those  of  the  Chinese.  The  method  by  which 
the  silver  is  obtained  has  never  been  discovered  by  any  of  the  native 
Christians,  during  the  long  period  in  which  this  religion  has  been 
propagated  here.” 

No  trash  is  too  silly  so  long  as  it  charges  cruelty,  lewdness, 
and  money-greed  to  the  white  man  in  general,  and  to  the  mis- 
sionary in  particular.  At  a distance  of  ten  thousand  miles,  we 
can  afford  to  smile  at  these  infantile  productions  and  pity  the 
perpetrators,  as  did  John  Huss  those  who  reviled  him.  But  to 
the  white  man  on  the  spot  these  are  more  than  the  squibs  of  mis- 
chievous children.  They  are  the  programme  of  a government  too 
weak  to  establish  sound  administration,  but  strong  enough  to  ob- 
struct the  white  man  in  his  efforts  at  reform. 

PouLTNEY  Bigelow. 


AMERICA’S  TREATMENT  OF  THE  CHINESE. 


BY  CHARLES  F.  HOLDER. 


A DISTINGUISHED  French  diplomat  recently  said:  “America  is 
not  the  disinterested  figure  generally  supposed.  She  will  be 
forced  to  take  sides  in  the  partition  of  China  if  it  comes,  and  will 
not  submit  to  fill  the  mere  office  of  a looker  on  in  Venice.  More- 
over/^ continued  the  speaker,  “the  policy  of  America  has  been  dis- 
tinctly aggressive  and  anti-Chinese  since  1868.  The  United 
States  government  has  in  every  way  outraged  China,  has  broken 
its  treaties  time  and  again,  and,  if  the  history  of  these  wrongs 
were  written  it  would  show  that  China  has  had  reason  for  a decla- 
ration of  war  against  the  government  of  the  States  time  and 
again.  I know  not  what  you  think;  but  to  a European  outsider 
the  United  States  has  for  years  carried  a chip  on  its  shoulder;  and 
the  assumption  is  that  it  would  welcome  a war  with  China,  that 
the  opportunity  might  afford  an  excuse  to  acquire  a port  or  colony 
in  China  for  its  commercial  aggrandisement.^^ 

There  is  hardly  an  American  reader  who  will  not  laugh  at 
this  rodomontade,  but,  while  it  may  seem  a waste  of  time  to  prove 
the  futility  of  such  suspicions  on  the  part  of  foreigners  as  to  the 
purposes  which  have  animated  us  in  our  dealings  with  China,  it  is 
interesting  to  glance  at  our  treaty  relations  with  China  from  the 
standpoint  of  an  alien,  and  note  how  we  have  carried  out  our 
obligations,  and  what  our  treatment  of  China  has  actually  been. 

Our  first  treaty  with  China  was  negotiated  by  Caleb  Cushing, 
who  as  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  went 
to  China  in  1844,  bearing  a letter  to  the  Emperor  from  President 
Tyler.  But  four  years  before  then,  the  British  fleet  had  bom- 
barded the  ports  which  had  been  sealed  for  centuries;  and  as  a 
result,  five  ports  were  open  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Cushing^s  mission, 
and  Great  Britain  was  in  full  possession  of  Hong  Kong,  which 
bad  been  ceded  in  perpetuity  by  the  helpless  and  impotent  nation. 


AMERICANS  TREATMENT  OF  THE  CHINESE. 

Mr.  Cushing  had,  in  a large  measure,  discretionary  powers,  and 
after  assuring  the  Emperor  that  America  was  not  in  sympathy 
with  the  attitude  of  Great  Britain  in  seizing  Hong  Kong,  he  ne- 
gotiated the  Treaty  of  Wang  Hiya,  which  constitutes  the  first  act 
of  oliicial  intercourse  this  country  has  had  with  China. 

This  treaty,  which  has  always  been  of  great  benefit  to  us,  gave 
Americans  the  right  of  residence  at  the  treaty  ports.  This  was 
considered  by  the  Chinese  a remarkable  concession,  and  Mr.  Cush- 
ing was  given  to  understand  that  it  was  granted  in  appreciation  of 
the  friendly  attitude  of  America,  though  it  was  a self-evident  fact 
that  Americans  could  not  have  been  kept  out.  The  treaty  did  not 
end  here.  By  it,  Americans  obtained  extra-territorial  privileges 
which,  among  other  things,  gave  them'  the  right  to  be  tried  in  their 
consular  courts.  Mr.  Cushing  also  secured  the  insertion  of  what 
is  known  as  the  ^^most  favored  nation  clause,*^  which  placed  Amer- 
ican citizens  on  a par  with  the  citizens  of  other  nations. 

These  were  the  first  concessions  obtained  from  the  Chinese, 
the  first  clouds  on  the  Celestial  horizon  suggestive  of  their  ultimate 
undoing ; the  door  once  open,  the  cupidity  of  the  entire  commercial 
world  was  aroused.  The  concession  of  Hong  Kong  to  Great 
Britain  was  but  a sop  thrown  to  delay  the  inevitable ; and  seventeen 
years  after  the  opening  of  the  doors  of  China  we  find  England 
and  France  allied  for  the  purpose  of  prying  open  the  Chinese 
oyster  still  wider. 

The  attitude  of  America  at  that  juncture  is  a matter  of  his- 
tor}^,  and  it  was  commendable  from  a diplomatic  and  humanitarian 
point  of  view.  We  were  invited  by  the  Powers  interested  to  make 
common  cause  with  them  against  China,  but  we  declined  and  sent 
a special  envoy,  in  the  person  of  W.  B.  Eeed,  to  inform  the  Em- 
peror that  we  were  not  in  sympathy  with  the  action  of  the  Powers. 
Our  position  was  criticised  by  England,  whose  wits  expressed  the 
opinion  that  x\merica  declined  to  join  in  the  war,  as  a matter  of 
economy,  but  sent  a fieet  up  the  Peiho  in  the  wake  of  the  ships  of 
France  and  England,  and  secured  all  the  commercial  benefits 
without  a corresponding  expense. 

This  was,  to  a certain  extent,  true;  as,  after  this  war,  we  ob- 
tained our  second  treaty  with  China,  while  England  and  France 
paid  the  expense ; their  combined  fleets  forcing  open  six  new  ports, 
and  our  envoy,  Mr.  Eeed,  obtaining  with  them  the  right  of  trade 
and  residence.  This  treaty  begins  as  follows : 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 


^‘There  shall  be,  as  there  always  has  been,  peace  between  the 
United  States  of  America  and  the  Ta-Tsing  Empire  and  between  their 
people,  respectively.  They  shall  not  insult  or  oppress  each  other  for 
any  trifling  cause,  so  as  to  produce  an  estrangement  between  them.” 

This  was,  surely,  a gentle  satire  on  future  events,  as  Ameri- 
cans have  undoubtedly  treated  the  Chinese  in  America  with 
studied  disrespect.  The  Chinese  have  retaliated  by  making  this 
country  the  dumping  ground  of  their  criminals,  the  great  seat  of 
their  slave  trade,  and  in  many  directions  have  dispossessed  the 
American  laborer. 

The  third  treaty  with  China  was  consummated  by  Anson  Bur- 
lingame, who  was  Minister  to  China  in  1863;  a compact  which 
was  at  the  root  of  all  the  labor  troubles  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and 
which  dominated  politics  about  the  Golden  Gate  for  three  de- 
cades. At  this  time  Senator  Stanford,  Mr.  Huntington  and  other 
railroad  men  were  figuring  on  the  Pacific  Eailroad  and  needed 
cheap  labor  to  accomplish  it.  Mr.  Burlingame  was  requested  to 
say  to  the  Ta-Tsing  government  that  America  would  welcome 
Chinese  emigrants  in  unlimited  numbers.  Previous  to  this  there 
was  an  unwritten  law  in  the  Orient  that  no  Chinaman  should  leave 
his  country,  but  the  invitation  of  America  brought  about  a change. 
The  Ta-Tsing  government  recognized  an  opportunity  to  reduce  its 
surplus  paupers  and  criminals,  and  a treaty  was  readily  agreed 
upon.  It  began  as  follows,  and  it  is  interesting  reading  in  the 
light  of  later  events : 

“The  United  States  of  America  and  the  Emperor  of  China  cordially 
recognize  the  inherent  and  inalienable  right  of  man  to  change  his  home 
and  allegiance;  and  also  the  mutual  advantage  of  the  free  migration 
and  emigration  of  their  citizens  and  subjects,  respectively,  from  the 
one  country  to  the  other  for  purposes  of  curiosity,  of  trade,  or  as  per- 
manent residents.” 

At  the  invitation  of  our  government  the  Chinese  poured  into 
this  country  in  a human  river,  whose  fiow  never  flagged,  and  in 
1867  the  Chinese  population  of  the  Pacific  slope  was  formidable 
and  portentous.  A cry  went  up,  American  labor  sounded  the 
alarm,  and  the  abrogation  of  the  famous  Burlingame  treaty  was 
demanded.  While  attempts  were  being  made  in  this  direction,  the 
hoodlum  element  of  San  Francisco  determined  to  take  time  by  the 
forelock  and  Chinamen  by  the  queue,  and  what  was  known  as  the 
^^sand-lot  agitation,^’  a protest  against  the  third  treaty,  was  begun. 
So  intense  was  the  excitement  that  the  government  was  obliged  to 


AMERICA'S  TREATMENT  OF  THE  CHINESE. 


interfere,  and  a special  embassy,  composed  of  James  B.  Angell,  W. 
H.  Trescott  and  John  F.  Swift,  was  appointed  by  President  Hayes 
and  sent  to  Peking  to  request  a modification  of  the  treaty,  which 
a decade  before  Mr.  Burlingame  had  used  every  device  known  to 
the  skilled  diplomat  to  obtain.  Under  some  circumstances  it 
would  have  been  humiliating  to  the  national  pride,  but  the  Pacific 
coast  was  aflame.  Law  and  order  were  crushed  under  foot,  and  it 
was  manifestly  impossible  to  protect  Chinamen  in  America;  hence 
the  modification  of  the  treaty  was  demanded  and  received. 

The  modified  treaty  is  of  interest  at  this  time  in  its  bearing 
upon  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  now  a territory  of  the  United  States. 
The  first  article  reads : 

“Whenever,  in  the  opinion  of  the  United  States,  the  coming  of 
Chinese  laborers  to  the  United  States  or  their  residence  therein,  affects 
or  threatens  to  affect  the  interests  of  that  country,  or  to  endanger 
the  good  order  of  that  country,  or  of  any  locality  within  the  territory 
thereof,  the  government  of  China  agrees  that  the  government  of  the 
United  States  may  regulate,  limit,  or  suspend  such  coming  or  residence, 
but  may  not  absolutely  prohibit  it.” 

The  result  of  tliis  treaty  was  the  nominal  stoppage  of  Chinese 
immigration,  with  the  favored  nation  clause  included,  a feature 
which  had  constituted  the  essence  of  one  of  our  early  treaties.  Up 
to  this  time  China  and  the  United  States  had  been  on  terms  of 
cordiality,  but  the  new  treaty  did  not  satisfy  the  anti-Chinese 
party  on  the  Pacific  coast,  and  a series  of  outrages  was  begun, 
which,  to  the  unprejudiced  observer,  suggest  that  the  criticism  of 
the  French  diplomat  is  not  without  reason,  and  that  we  have  not 
observ^ed  the  spirit  of  our  treaties  with  China.  In  truth,  for 
purely  local  political  reasons  certain  rights  of  the  Chinese  have 
not  been  respected.  Difficulties  began  to  accumulate  in  1882, 
when  Congress  took  action  on  the  Angell  treaty,  and  passed  an 
act,  the  first  section  of  which  states : 

“That  from  and  after  the  expiration  of  ninety  days  after  the  pas- 
sage of  this  Act,  the  coming  of  Chinese  laborers  to  the  United  States 
be,  and  the  same  is,  hereby  suspended  for  ten  years;  and  during  such 
suspension  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  any  Chinese  laborers  to  come,  or 
having  so  come  after  the  expiration  of  ninety  days,  to  remain  within 
the  United  States.” 

The  first  effect  of  this  was  noticed  in  China,  where  the  Chinese 
began  to  retaliate  against  Americans,  many  of  whom  were  obliged 
to  take  refuge  in  consulates,  and  a general  uprising  against  for- 


TEE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

eigners  was  threatened.  The  records  show  that  three  years  after 
the  Chinese  Eestriction  Act  was  put  in  force,  40,222  Chinese  had 
returned  to  China,  and  but  18,704  had  entered  the  United  States. 
To  illustrate  the  feeling  at  this  time,  it  is  told  by  a school  teacher 
in  a primary  school  in  San  Francisco,  that  the  children  having 
bought  an  American  flag  with  their  money,  she  asked  them  to 
select  some  sentiment  to  work  upon  it.  One  little  boy  raised  his 
hand,  and  on  being  asked  what  he  would  inscribe  on  the  flag,  re- 
plied : “The  Chinese  must  go.^’  Such  was  the  sentiment  when 

even  children  were  taught  to  hoot  at  and  hurl  stones  at  China- 
men. 

In  the  election  of  1888  each  political  party  on  the  Pacific  coast 
made  the  sentiment  of  this  child  its  party  cry.  It  was  a local 
issue,  but  was  soon  made  a national  question  by  the  astute  leaders, 
who  knew  that  by  obtaining  anti-Chinese  legislation  in  Congress 
the  party  on  the  Coast  would  be  aided.  So  a new  treaty  was 
prepared  and  submitted  to  the  Chinese  Minister  and  his  govern- 
ment, then  amended  in  the  Senate,  and  finally,  that  it  might  not 
he  too  late  for  its  intended  effect  upon  the  voters,  the  Democratic 
party  in  the  House  forced  what  is  known  as  the  “Scott  Exclusion 
Act”  through  Congress,  and  it  was  signed  by  President  Cleveland. 
In  truth,  so  far  as  our  former  treaties  were  concerned,  and  looking 
at  it  from  a non-partisan  point  of  view,  it  was  an  outrage  upon  the 
proprieties,  a gratuitous  insult  to  a great  yet  defenseless  nation. 
The  act  completely  demoralized  the  Chinese  in  this  country,  which 
was  the  intention.  By  it  twenty  thousand  certificates  were  de- 
clared null  and  void,  twenty  thousand  promises,  on  the  honor  of 
the  United  States,  that  the  holders  should  be  allowed  to  return, 
were  ruthlessly  broken  ; and,  to  satisfy  the  clamor  of  irresponsible 
bands  of  hoodlums  led  by  sand-lot  politicians  in  San  Francisco, 
the  whole  machinery  of  the  government  was  prostituted  that  votes 
might  be  secured,  and  the  act  was  passed  by  ^Congress  while  the 
treaty  was  pending.  The  action  was  so  gross  that  it  called  forth 
criticism  from  the  English  press,  and  William  M.  Evarts  voiced 
his  indignation  in  a public  address,  saying  that  “it  was  the  first 
time  in  the  diplomatic  history  of  this  country  of  an  intervention 
by  legislative  action  while  there  was  a treaty,  negotiated  by  this 
government,  pending  for  adoption  by  a foreign  country.”  The 
incident  was  considered  an  insult  by  all  the  Powers,  who  professed 
to  believe  at  the  time,  and  with  apparent  reason,  that  we  were 


AMERICANS  TREATMENT  OF  TEE  CHINESE. 

trying  to  provoke  war  as  an  excuse  for  taking  a hand  in  managing 
the  alfairs  of  China.  That  Mr.  Sherman  resented  the  indignity 
thrust  upon  Americans  is  shown  in  the  following  utterance  of  his : 
‘Tf  Great  Britain  were  to  act  thus  toward  the  x\merican  people,  he 
would  not  hesitate  to  vote  either  for  the  declaration  of  non-inter- 
course or  war.”  Yet  there  was  no  hidden  aggressive  policy  in  the 
act.  It  was  merely  awagary  of  what  is  known  as  American  politics, 
where  local  politicians  have  the  power,  through  Senators  and  Eep- 
resentatives,  to  force  action  and  interfere  in  the  diplomatic  affairs 
of  the  Department  of  State.  In  a word,  the  political  leaders  of 
the  Pacific  coast  succeeded  in  committing  the  entire  government 
to  an  act  that  was  a gross  violation  of  the  supplemental  treaty 
of  1880. 

It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  the  Great  Powers  affected  to 
believe  that  the  United  States  had  ulterior  motives. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  dignified  protest  from  the  Chinese 
Minister  at  this  last  outrage.  He  said,  in  a letter  to  Mr.  Blaine : 

“In  my  country  we  have  acted  upon  the  conviction  that,  where  two 
nations  deliberately  and  solemnly  enter  upon  treaty  stipulations,  they 
thereby  form  a sacred  compact  from  which  they  could  not  be  hon- 
orably discharged,  except  through  friendly  negotiations  and  a new 
agreement.  I was,  therefore,  not  prepared  to  learn  through  the  medium 
of  that  great  tribunal  (the  Supreme  Court)  that  there  was  a way 
recognized  in  the  law  and  practice  of  this  country  whereby  your  gov- 
ernment could  release  itself  from  treaty  obligations  without  consulta- 
tion with  or  consent  of  the  other  party  to  what  we  had  been  ac- 
customed to  regard  as  a sacred  instrument.” 

It  was  a difficult  matter  for  our  astute  and  diplomatic  Secre- 
tary to  reply  to  this  and  other  letters  and  protests,  and  still  pre- 
serve the  dignity  of  this  country  intact.  Indeed,  in  some  in- 
stances the  Department  of  State  was  the  laugliing  stock  of  Europe, 
notahlv  in  the  case  of  the  Denver  riots.  Chinamen  had  been  shot 
down  without  cause,  and  a strong  protest  was  made  by  the  Chinese 
Minister,  who,  referring  to  the  treaty,  demanded  that  the  guilty 
parties  should  be  brought  to  justice,  pointing  out  that  in  China 
such  attacks  against  American  citizens  resulted  in  the  beheading 
of  the  guilty  parties.  Mr.  Evarts  had  but  one  reply  to  make,  and 
it  was  that,  under  the  Constitution,  ^^Federal  authorities  could  not 
interfere  with  the  municipal  affairs  of  a State;  hence  the  United 
States  government  was  not  responsible,”  ending  by  referring  the 
Minister  to  the  Governor  of  Colorado. 


THE  NORTE  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 


This  was  a confession  of  weakness,  and  it  was  commented  upon 
by  the  British  and  German  press,  while  the  reply  of  the  Chinese 
Minister  made  all  Europe  smile.  His  reply  was  that  the  Chinese 
government  had  no  treaties  with  Colorado,  hence  did  not  look  to 
that  State  for  justice.  In  the  terse  epigrammatic  diction  of  the 
day,  there  was  hut  one  thing  for  Mr.  Evarts  to  do,  and,  as  a Dem- 
ocratic paper  said,  he  ^^sawed  wood,”  and  the  Denver  affair,  so  far 
as  compensation  is  concerned,  still  hangs  fire. 

What  those  who  affected  to  believe  that  America  was  follow- 
ing out  a well-defined  policy  of  aggression  called  a “long  line  of 
abuses”  followed,  the  chief  of  which  was  the  Geary  bill,  a result 
of  Pacific  coast  clamor,  which  was  intended  to  bundle  out  the 
Chinese  faster,  and  its  form  and  various  clauses  brought  many 
protests  from  the  Chinese  Minister,  which,  it  is  needless  to  say, 
were  unavailing.  The  Geary  bill  was  an  extremely  harsh  measure. 
It  provided  that  Chinamen  who  were  arrested  must  prove  that 
they  were  here  previous  to  the  passage  of  the  bill,  or  go  to  prison 
for  a 3"ear,  and  then  be  deported.  All  Chinese  laborers  in  the 
States  were  obliged  to  apply  to  the  Internal  Eevenue  Collector 
for  a certificate  of  residence.  When  Chinamen  landed  and  there 
was  any  question  regarding  their  right,  and  a.  writ  of  habeas  cor- 
pus had  been  applied  for  to  get  them  ashore,  no  bail  was  accepted, 
and  they  were  thrown  into  jail — a proceeding  which,  if  applied  to 
citizens  of  any  of  the  great  European  powers,  would  have  resulted 
in  war.  Chakles  F.  Holder. 


AMERICA’S  DUTY  IN  CHINA. 


BY  JOHX  BARRETT^  FORMERLY  UNITED  STATES  MINISTER  TO  SIAM. 


Christendom  is  staggered  by  the  crisis  in  China.  But  Amer- 
ica’s duty  is  definite;  her  path  is  plain. 

The  world’s  policy  in  Cathay  is  the  commanding  question  of 
the  hour.  It  overshadows  national  controversies  regarding  im- 
perialism and  the  coinage  of  silver  at  the  ratio  of  sixteen  to  one. 
Tt  is  tne  paramount  issue  in  an  international  campaign  to  con- 
serve the  world-quickening  forces  of  Christianity,  Civilization  and 
Commerce. 

Therefore,  every  American,  even  in  this  sultry  mid-summer 
month,  whether  leisurely  resting  in  cool  resorts  or  laboriously 
earning  his  daily  bread  in  city  or  countr}^  should  study  well  the 
part  America  must  play  on  this  new  stage  of  international  action. 

In  Asia,  America  and  the  world  are  face  to  face  with  an  un- 
paralleled and  unprecedented  situation ; but  America’s  policy  will 
be  the  allied  world’s  policy,  if  America  acts  on  the  strength  of  her 
unique  position  and  does  not  shirk  the  impending  task. 

We  see  the  United  States  unexpectedly  summoned  to  meet  in 
China  graver  moral  responsibilities  than  it  has  ever  confronted 
in  the  Philippines.  Likewise^  it  is  challenged  by  greater  material 

VOL.  CLXXI NO.  525  10 

Copyright,  1900,  by  The  North  American  Review  Publishing  Company.  All  rights  reserved. 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 


opportunities  than  it  will  ever  discover  in  all  the  other  undevel- 
oped portions  of  the  world. 

In  this  hour  of  peril  and  through  trials  that  shall  follow,  we 
must  remember  that  we  are  a Christian  as  well  as  a commercial  na- 
tion. We  are  a moral  as  well  as  a material  force.  We  are  a civil- 
izing as  well  as  an  exploiting  agency.  This  is  a supreme  test  in  the 
competition  of  nations,  in  a struggle  where  the  principle  of  the 
survival  of  the  fittest  has  its  stern  and  cruel  application.  Possibly 
now,  as  China  and  the  allied  nations  of  the  world  are  in  deadly 
struggle  in  North  China,  whether  with  riotous  hordes  or  govern- 
ment forces,  our  Anglo-Saxon  race,  our  Anglo-Saxon  religions, 
our  Anglo-Saxon  systems  of  society  and  government  are  at  stake. 
We  cannot,  therefore,  quail  before  our  responsibility.  There  is  no 
question  of  imperialism  or  expansion  involved  other  than  that  of 
the  salvation  and  extension  of  our  race  and  our  institutions. 

I do  not  mean  that  the  United  States  shall  go  out  of  its  way 
to  assume  responsibilities,  to  arrogate  to  itself  leadership,  to 
take  ostentatiously  upon  its  shoulders  the  burdens  of  the  world. 
Eather  shall  it  simply  perform  its  plain  duty,  as  an  officer  in 
battle,  who,  standing  in  a central,  commanding  strategic  position, 
holds  the  fate  of  his  regiment  in  his  hands  and  determines  victory 
by  combining  discretion  with  heroism. 

I.  AMEEICA’S  POSITION  AND  POLICY. 

Through  all  the  confusion  of  the  present  and  the  mystery  of 
the  future,  there  stand  out  these  dominant  considerations : 

First,  America  is  the  logical  arbiter  of  China’s  future ; the  fate 
of  the  Empire  depends  upon  the  favor  of  the  Eepublic ; 

Second,  if  there  is  a Yellow  Peril  threatening  the  White 
World,  America,  more  than  any  other  Power,  can  lead  the  way  to 
rendering  it  colorless  and  innocuous;  because. 

Third,  America  is  the  only  nation  present  in  China  to-day, 
with  force  and  with  prominent  interests,  rights,  and  commerce, 
which  has  the  unqualified  confidence  and  trust  of  the  European 
nations,  Japan  and  China  alike,  or  is  not  the  object  of  long- 
standing jealousy  and  distrust;  and. 

Fourth,  an  International  Congress  or  Conference,  in  which 
America  for  the  three  reasons  just  given  should  occupy  a promi- 
nent and  possibly  the  leading  part,  will,  in  the  nature  of  events, 
be  assembled  in  the  near  future,  to  consider  wliat  shall  be  the 


AMERICA'S  DUTY  IX  CHINA. 

attitude  and  policy  of  the  nations  of  the  world,  not  only  in  coping 
with  the  great  problems  of  the  re-establishment  of  order,  the 
rehabilitation  of  the  Government,  the  award  of  punishment  and 
indemnities,  but  in  determining  the  future  status  of  China’s  gov- 
ernment and  territor}^  and  their  relation  to  the  outer  world. 

With  this  responsibility  and  position,  what  shall  America’s 
policy  include?  There  should  be  no  equivocation  as  to  the  prin- 
ciples involved.  Expressed  briefly,  the  main  planks  in  our  Chinese 
platform  might  be  stated  as  follows : 

1.  The  United  States  desires  and  should  take  no  port,  province 
or  part  of  China,  either  as  a sphere  of  temporary  influence  or  as 
an  area  of  actual  sovereignty. 

2.  The  United  States  should  oppose,  with  all  its  moral,  polit- 
ical and  diplomatic  influence,  any  partition  of  China  among  the 
foreign  Powers,  or  any  delimitation  of  acknowledged  spheres  of 
influence. 

3.  The  United  States  should  insist  upon  the  permanent  main- 
tenance of  the  trade  principle  of  the  Open  Door;  as  outlined  in 
the  present  Chinese  treaties,  throughout  all  China,  by  all  the 
Powers  endeavoring  to  exercise  influence  within  her  limits. 

4.  The  United  States,  provided  the  dissolution  of  the  Empire 
is  inevitable,  despite  our  best  efforts  of  diplomacy  and  moral 
suasion,  should  insist  upon  the  guarantee,  by  formal  convention,  of 
the  Open  Door  principle  in  all  the  various  areas  of  foreign  sover- 
eignty in  China,  and  will,  carefully  guard  against  excuses  for 
discriminating  duties,  national  rebates  or  subsidies,  and  special 
freight  charges — for  the  consuming  powers  of  an  increasing  popu- 
lation of  four  hundred  millions  of  people  and  the  material  develop- 
ment of  four  millions  of  square  miles  are  involved. 

5.  The  United  States,  acting  with  charity  and  equity,  and 
in  no  spirit  of  vengeance,  should  employ  all  its  moral  and  material 
influence  in  prescribing  just  punishment  and  indemnity  for  loss  of 
life  and  property  sustained  at  the  hands  of  fanatical  and  insur- 
rectionary mobs ; in  adjusting  the  true  moral  responsibility  of  the 
overwhelmed  government ; in  establishing  permanent  order  and 
honest  progressive  administration  of  government  throughout  the 
Empire ; in  safeguarding,  both  for  the  present  and  the  future,  the 
lives,  rights  and  holdings'  of  missionaries,  merchants  and  other 
foreign  residents ; and,  finally,  in  so  preparing  the  way  for  peace, 
order  and  prosperity,  to  be  followed  by  liberty,  justice  and  free- 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

dom  under  the  guiding  direction  of  Christian  civilization^  that  we 
shall  win  the  lasting  gratitude  of  the  countless  blameless  Chinese 
and  make  them  forever  our  disciples  in  moral  and  material 
progress. 

With  the  future  of  China  there  are  concerned  four  great  Euro- 
pean factors : Eussia,  England,  German}^  and  France ; two  Asiatic, 
China  herself,  and  Japan;  one  American,  the  United  States.  In 
such  a combination  jealousies,  distrust  and  bickerings  may  clog 
the  way  to  a satisfactory  solution  of  the  great  problem.  For  in- 
stance, which  one  of  the  first  four  would  the  other  three  select  and 
follow  ? They  could  unite  on  none,  and  yet  all  are  most  friendly 
to  the  United  States  and  always  willing  to  listen  to  its  represen- 
tations. Again,  what  non-Asiatic  Power  would  China  and  J apan 
alike  trust?  Only  America.  This  was  confirmed  by  their  atti- 
tude toward  America  in  their  late  war.  Toward  what  country 
has  China  the  most  friendly  feeling?  Without  doubt,  America. 
For  a long  time  she  has  recognized  us  as  the  only  country  de- 
siring none  of  her  territory,  and  wishing  to  maintain  only  and 
always  the  most  amicable  relations  with  her.  Even  the  Chinese 
Exclusion  Act  has  cut  little  figure  in  Chinese- American  relations, 
for  its  operation  has  been  felt  only  by  a small  portion  of  Chinese 
in  the  southern  part  of  the  Empire.  My  theory  is  simply  that  the 
United  States  is  the  one  nation,  from  its  remarkable  strength  of 
position,  that  can  exercise  the  vigorous  moral  infiuence  and  leader- 
ship in  the  coming  negotiations  of  the  Powers,  which  will  assure 
the  settlement  of  the  present  crisis,  first,  with  strict  justice  and 
honor  to  all  nations  concerned,  and,  second,  with  no  selfish  scram- 
ble for  territory  that  will  lead  to  the  violent  break-up  of  the  Em- 
pire and  the  ultimate  shutting  of  the  Open  Door. 

To  some,  in  describing  Americans  prominence  and  in  emphasiz- 
ing the  importance  of  the  crisis,  my  words  may  seem  those  of 
enthusiasm  or  exaggeration.  Some  years’  diplomatic  experience 
in  Asia  may  make  me  speak  feelingly,  but  not  rashly  and  incor- 
rectly. Conditions,  not  imagination,  inspire  my  conclusions. 

II.  THE  OPEA^  DOGE  AUD  PAETITION. 

Expressed  plainly,  America  has  everything  to  lose  and  nothing 
to  gain  by  a divided  China;  equally  true  is  it  that  America  has 
everything  to  gain  and  nothing  to  lose  by  an  undivided  China. 

With  China  actually  partitioned  among  the  foreign  Powers, 


AMERICA'S  DUTY  IN  CHINA. 

or  nominally  divided  into  spheres  of  influence,  we  can  still  have 
the  Open  Door.  It  will  exist,  however,  with  the  ever-present  pos- 
sibility that  actual  sovereignty  would  eventually  close  the  door 
through  discriminations  or  rebates  in  duties  or  freights.  Pos- 
session, moreover,  is  nine-tenths  of  the  law,  and  agreements  made 
in  troublous  times  of  Chinese  sovereignty  may  not  be  held  always 
sacred  in  times  of  European  sovereignty,  especially  if  new  inter- 
national complications  shall  develop. 

America’s  chief  market  in  China  is  now  found  in  Manchuria 
and  in  the  provinces  inclosing  the  Gulf  of  Pechili,  the  scene  of  the 
present  revolution.  Throughout  this  area  we  have  so  far  had  the 
Open  Door  and  been  able  to  sell  our  manufactured  cotton  goods  in 
successful  competition  with  the  rest  of  the  world.  We  have  de- 
veloped our  sales  of  cotton  textiles  from  $1,600,000  to  over 
$10,000,000  in  the  last  ten  years.  If  the  Open  Door  is  main- 
tained, we  shall  build  up  this  trade  tenfold  or  more.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  Eussia,  Germany  or  some  other  Power  assume 
sovereignty,  there  is  the  imminent  possibility  of  the  cotton  manu- 
facturers of  those  countries  demanding  preferential  railway  or 
steamer  rates,  which  will  annul  the  force  of  any  agreements. 
They  may  even  demand  of  their  respective  governments  that  these 
agreements  shall  be  cancelled.  This  would  not  be  done  without 
protest  and  difficulty,  but  when  the  flrst  international  complica- 
tion arose,  or  when,  for  instance,  retaliation  in  trade  relations 
might  be  necessary,  there  would  be  a change  of  tariffs  and  duties 
that  might  shut  out  the  American  product. 

Here  the  Southern  States  have  vast  concern.  The  new  in- 
dustrial prosperity  of  Dixie  has  its  opportunity  largely  in  supply- 
ing manufactured  cotton  goods  to  China.  The  closing  of  that 
field  of  consumption  permanently  would  bring  vridespread  de- 
pression to  the  South. 

' This  is  only  one  illustration.  The  same  story  might  be  true  of 
a French  sphere  in  Kwang-tung,  Kwang-se  and  Yun-nan;  of  a 
Japanese  sphere  in  Fuh-keen;  of  an  Italian  sphere  in  Che-keang; 
of  a German  sphere  in  Shan-tung,  although  we  must  give  these 
countries  credit  for  assurances  that  they  will  follow  the  policy  of 
the  Open  Door. 

Great  Britain  has  gone  so  strongly  on  record  as  favoring  the 
Open  Door,  and  has  so  faithfully  proved  the  honesty  of  her  inten- 
tions by  her  policy  in  her  dependencies,  that  we  need  have  little 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

worry  about  the  future  of  the  great  Yangtsze  Valley.  Unfor- 
tunately, however,  our  interests  and  opportunities  there  are  not 
so  large  as  in  the  sections  which  might  go  to  countries  that  have 
not  proved  their  good  faith  through  both  preachings  and  practice 
during  an  extensive  period  of  years. 

While  describing  the  possible  dangers  of  a partition  of  China, 
let  us  be  fair  and  give  due  credit  to  other  countries.  Let  us  not 
forget  that  in  the  Russian  territory  of  Eastern  Siberia  and  in 
Manchuria,  where  Russia  now  is  apparently  evolving  a sphere  of 
influence,  American  trade  is  rapidly  developing,  and  that  there  is 
a vast  field  there  for  legitimate  exploitation.  If  the  conven- 
tions which  Russia,  Germany  and  France  have  signed  with  China, 
in  regard  to  certain  ports  and  parts  of  the  Empire,  include  terms 
which  would  seem  to  be  in  violation  of  the  spirit  and  letter  of  our 
treaties  with  China  in  the  matter  of  *the  Open  Door  and  equal 
privileges  and  rights,  there  has  not  yet  been  any  test  case  of  im- 
portance to  prove  that  there  is  discrimination  against  us. 

Great  Britain  has  been  the  pioneer  in  the  Open  Door  move- 
ment, but  only  two  years  ago  she  was  appealing  in  vain  to  us  for 
co-operation  to  prevent  alienation  of  territory  and  to  protect  trade 
rip->i+s.  Lord  Charles  Beresford  forewarned  us  of  present  events, 
but  excited  no  interest  beyond  a cordial  reception.  With  the 
hope  of  stirring  up  political  passion,  certain  demagogues  denounce 
any  possible  sympathy  of  the  United  States  with  England  in  the 
latter’s  Chinese  policy.  This  is  done  in  face  of  the  fact  that, 

’ wherever  English  authority  is  paramount  in  Asia,  there  are  order, 
prosperity  and  a fair  chance  for  everybody  and  all  nations — unless 
nature,  in  the  form  of  famine,  brings  unrest.  In  Hong  Kong, 
England  has  demonstrated  how  successfully  she  can  lead  the 
Chinese  to  their  and  her  advantage. 

Russia  has  worked  mighty  changes  in  Eastern  Siberia.  She 
generally  has  extended  to  America  a welcoming  hand  in  com- 
merce. She  announces  Dalny,  formerly  Talienwan,  as  a free  port 
and  gateway  to  Manchuria.  Germany  proclaims  that  there  will 
be  no  discrimination  at  Ching-taou,  or  Kiao-chow,  against  the 
merchants  and  ships  of  other  nations. 

The  masterly  diplomacy  of  Secretary  Hay  has,  furthermore, 
secured  recent  assurances,  from  all  the  Governments  interested  in 
China,  that  American  rights  will  be  permanently  safeguarded. 
If  the  Powers  are  sincere,  we  can  be  hopeful  of  the  future,  but 


AMERICA'S  DUTY  IN  CHINA. 


the  treachery  of  international  complications  often  renders  mean- 
ingless diplomatic  notes  exchanged  in  a friendly  hour. 

If,  by  the  inevitable  force  of  world-events,  China  is  to  be 
despoiled  of  her  territory,  then  let  this  same  diplomacy  of  John 
Hay,  or  his  successor,  obtain  from  every  nation  securing  sovereign- 
ty over  a part  of  the  Empire  a lasting  agreement,  in  unqualified 
terms,  that  America  shall  have  in  perpetuity  the  same  rights  of 
trade  therein  as  are  granted  not  only  to  the  most  favored  nation, 
but  to  the  sovereign  power  itself.  Let  this  agreement  not  be  con- 
fined to  a diplomatic  note,  nor  to  an  exchange  of  intentions  with 
happy  felicitation,  but  let  it  be  a binding  convention,  formally 
signed  and  sealed. 

In  this  connection,  there  occurs  this  vital  consideration : 
In  all  reasonable  probability  there  is  not  a Power  that  will  refuse 
to  be  a party  to  such  a treaty,  if  America  firmly  presses  the  point 
to  consummation.  There  is  also  the  cardinal  thought  in  this 
whole  question,  that  stands  out  like  a beacon  light:  No  power  will 
insist  to  the  limit  of  force  upon  the  division  of  China,  if  America 
protests  with  all  its  moral  resources  against  division. 

III.  THE  GOVERNMENT’S  ATTITUDE. 

In  this  world-crisis,  where  races,  religions,  institutions  are  at 
stake,  America’s  policy  in  China  should  be  supported  by  Demo- 
crats and  Republicans  alike. 

The  partisan  plea  that  President  McKinley’s  unremitting 
efforts  to  protect  American  life  and  property  in  China  may  lead 
us  into  war  with  some  European  Power  is  not  well  founded.  There 
is  little  probability  of  our  being  embroiled,  either  in  a single- 
handed  or  in  an  international  war,  if  we  follow  our  definite  duty 
in  the  plain  path  before  us,  and  do  not  shrink  from  the  unavoid- 
able moral  responsibilities  which  are  imposed  upon  us  as  a Chris- 
tian nation,  having  vast  interests  at  stake.  We  can  afford  to  do 
our  allotted  work  in  China  because  our  moral  strength  is  admit- 
ted, and  our  moral  and  material  interests  demand  it. 

We  shall  need,  as  we  are  now  exercising,  broad  diplomacy  in 
adjusting  to  a nicety  the  Chinese  situation.  We  are  fortunate  in 
the  past  achievements  of  the  State  Department;  we,  therefore, 
have  confidence  for  the  future.  President  McKinley,  Secretary 
Hay,  and  their  subordinates,  have  already  won  the  confidence  of 
the  European  Powers  and  Japan,  and  the  lasting  gratitude  of 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

China,  in  the  policies  they  have  promulgated  previous  to  the  pres- 
ent revolution. 

Since  the  first  cry  of  distress  and  warning  of  disaster  came 
from  Peking,  the  Government  has  left  no  stone  unturned  to 
rescue  the  lives  of  our  Minister  and  his  family  at  Peking,  and  of 
missionaries  and  merchants  in  the  same  disturbed  locality.  Im- 
mediately following  Mr.  CongePs  request  for  marines,  they  were 
dispatched  with  all  haste  to  the  capital.  Then  followed,  as  the 
danger  of  the  situation  developed,  an  unremitting  endeavor  to 
send  reinforcements.  All  that  were  available  were  forwarded.  The 
unfortunate  contingencies  of  a typhoon  in  Manila  Bay,  the  neces- 
sity of  not  weakening  materially  the  force  in  the  Philippines,  the 
difficulties  of  approach  to  Tientsin  and  Peking,  the  distance  of 
Taku  from  Manila  and  from  the  United  States,  cannot  be  set 
down  at  the  door  of  the  Administration.  A careful  survey  of 
everything  done  since  notification  came  to  Washington  from  the 
only  authoritative  source,  the  legation  at  Peking,  will  show  that 
the  President  cannot  be  held  responsible  for  the  reported  disaster 
to  foreigners  at  the  capital. 

AYe  cannot  blame  the  American  residents  of  Shanghai,  in  their 
earnest  desire  for  the  protection  of  American  lives  and  commerce, 
for  using  urgent  terms  in  appealing  to  the  Government  to  do 
everything  in  its  power  in  this  difficult  situation,  but  if  the  Gov- 
ernment has  met  that  responsibility  to  the  best  of  its  ability, 
its  efforts  should  be  justly  appreciated. 

It  must  be  remembered,  moreover,  while  public  sentiment  is 
so  deeply  stirred,  that  every  other  Government,  if  there  is  blame, 
is  as  deeply  involved  in  it  as  the  United  States.  If  Russia,  with 
her  force  at  Port  Arthur,  Great  Britain  at  Wei-hai-wei,  Germany 
at  Ching-taou,  and  Japan  with  her  unlimited  resources  near  at 
hand,  could  not  rescue  their  envoys,  why  should  Americans  sug- 
gest that  the  President  could  have  saved  the  Minister  of  the 
United  States?  It  must  not  be  forgotten,  also,  that  the  foreign 
representatives  themselves  at  Peking  were,  in  a measure,  responsi- 
ble for  the  inability  of  their  respective  countries  to  rescue  them. 
Had  they  made  appeals  for  force  earlier,  these  would  have  been 
honored.  No  request  of  Minister  Conger,  in  this  respect,  has  ever 
been  pigeon-holed  or  disregarded  by  the  State  Department. 

May  I not  here  suggest  that  our  possession  of  the  Philippines 
— which  the  anti-imperialists  so  strenuously  oppose  as  criminal 


AMERICA'S  DUTY  IN  CHINA. 

aggression,  but  which  others,  who  spent  long  years  in  Asia  and 
were  in  the  Philippines  during  the  development  of  the  present 
situation,  honestly  believe  are  ours  simply  as  a result  of  our 
courageously  meeting  unavoidable  moral  responsibilities,  com- 
plicated by  an  insurrection  inspired  by  ambitious  leaders  and 
the  enemies  of  the  United  States — has  enabled  us  to  cope  with 
the  present  Chinese  situation  in  time,  manner  and  force  which 
would  not  have  been  possible  without  our  presence  there.  Despite 
the  failure  of  the  allied  troops  to  reach  Peking  in  time,  our 
record  has  been  to  our  credit,  pride  and  honor  in  the  competition 
with  other  nations.  Under  other  conditions,  we  would  have  been 
entirely  dependent  upon  other  Powers,  and  possibly  treated  by 
them  with  patronizing  kindness  or  negative  indifference.  Our 
soldiers  have  been  in  the  front  lines  of  attack  and  defense,  and 
we  have  done  our  part  as  a first-class  Power  in  the  presence  of 
overwhelming  responsibilities. 

But  if  there  is  any  doubt  in  the  minds  of  some  men  about  our 
policy  in  China,  let  there  be  no  misunderstanding  about  terri- 
torial aggrandizement.  Once  and  for  all,  we  want  no  part  of  China ; 
we  will  take  no  part  of  China;  we  demand  only  the  Open  Door 
and  protection  for  the  lives  of  our  representatives,  missionaries 
and  merchants,  under  conditions  of  reform  and  progressive 
government. 

Even  visions  of  coaling  stations  and  a northern  rendezvous 
for  our  Philippine  naval  squadron  must  not  tempt  us  at 
this  hour  into  an  equivocal  position  on  this  vital  consideration. 
If  we  should  weaken  one  jot  or  tittle,  our  infiuence  in  Asia  would 
lose  its  healthy  force.  The  confidence  of  Europe,  the  trust  of 
Japan  and  the  respect  of  China  would  then  be  forfeited.  Noth- 
ing could  save  the  integrity  of  the  Empire,  and  the  hinges  of  the 
Open  Door  would  be  oiled  for  the  closing. 

IV.  A McKinley  doctrine  in  asia. 

We  have  a Monroe  Doctrine  in  America;  shall  we  not  have  a 
McKinley  Doctrine  in  Asia?  This  is  said  in  all  seriousness  and 
without  a suggestion  of  political  bias.  No  matter  how  much 
some  men  oppose  the  President’s  Philippine  policy,  either  in 
honesty  of  conviction  or  in  zeal  of  party  fealty,  the  permanent 
protection  of  life  and  property,  the  well-being  of  missionaries  and 
merchants,  the  vast  moral  and  material  interests  of  the  United 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

States,  and  a high  degree  of  patriotism  should  inspire  them  to 
support  his  Chinese  policy — not  only  the  policy  of  the  moment, 
but  that  which  he  has  already  initiated  in  recent  negotiations 
with  the  Powers. 

Shall  not  the  McKinley  Doctrine  in  China  mean  that  America 
shall  stand  with  all  its  strength  for  the  permanent  maintenance 
of  the  Open  Door  in  China — an  open  door  through  which  the 
diplomat  and  the  traveller,  the  missionary  and  the  merchant,  the 
engineer  and  the  educator,  shall  pass  and  re-pass  forever  in  safety  ? 

As  corollary  to  the  main  proposition,  shall  not  the  McKinley 
Doctrine  in  China  mean  that  America  shall  stand  with  all  its 
legitimate  moral  influence  to  prevent  any  Power  whatsoever,  mon- 
archial  or  republican,  acquiring  sovereignty  over  any  extended 
part  of  the  present  unpartitioned  area?  And,  possibly,  in  the 
growing  power  and  name  of  our  good  land,  this  use  of  moral  • 
influence,  to  the  full  extent  of  its  lengthening  tether,  may  in  a 
peaceable  way  accomplish  as  much  in  Asia,  as  the  use  of  moral 
and  armed  force,  which  the  Monroe  Doctrine  involves,  can  accom- 
plish in  America. 

Then,  with  the  Monroe  Doctrine  shutting  out  Europe  from 
governmental  control  of  the  Americas,  and  with  the  McKinley 
Doctrine  opening  up  the  vast  markets  and  material  opportunities 
of  Asia  to  the  United  States,  it  may  be  indeed  difficult  to  deter- 
mine which  doctrine  will  confer  the  most  direct  and  lasting  bene- 
fits on  the  largest  number. 

Commerce  is  the  life-blood  of  nations.  The  commerce  of  Asia 
may  yet  be  needed  to  give  us  the  strength  to  conserve  the  gov- 
ernments and  commerce  of  the  Americas.  The  McKinley  Doc- 
trine in  the  Pacific  and  China  may  provide  the  sinews  of  war 
to  defend  the  Monroe  Doctrine  in  the  Americas. 

V.  CHIKESE  EESPOKSIBILITY. 

In  judging  the  responsibility  of  the  Chinese  people  and  gov- 
ernment for  these  uprisings  and  massacres,  we  must  be  stern  but 
not  vengeful.  We  must  find  all  of  those  who  are  guilty  and 
punish  them  as  they  deserve.  While  the  world  is  not  in  a 
mood  to  forgive  the  Chinese  government  for  its  compromising 
course  with  the  so-called  Boxers,  it  must,  remember  that  this  has 
been  a riotous  movement,  which  has  developed  force  and  apparent 
organization  as  a snowball  grows  into  an  avalanche,  and  over- 


AMERICA'S  DUTY  IJY  CHINA. 

whelmed  both  the  government  that  temporized  with  it  and  the 
foreign  forces  that  strove  to  check  it.  If  the  authorities  had 
crushed  it  in  its  inception  we  would  have  heard  little  or  nothing 
of  it.  Unfortunately  for  themselves  and  for  the  outer  world, 
they  let  it  go  on,  as  sometimes  we  have  even  knowm  American 
officials  to  do  with  mobs,  until  it  was  beyond  control. 

There  is  no  question  that  recent  seizures  of  territory  by  foreign 
Powers,  particularly  those  in  the  Shan-tung  and  Liao-tung  Penin- 
sulas, have  had  a baneful  effect.  Moreover,  anti-foreign  officials 
in  the  interior,  taking  advantage  of  this  foreign  invasion  and  of 
their  personal  hatred  of  the  missionaries,  have  even  fostered  the 
publishing  of  misleading  placards  about  missionarios  and  other 
foreigners.  They  are  largely  responsible  for  the  internal  excite- 
ment. The  widespread  famine  prevailing  in  North  China  has 
greatly  aided  the  development  of  anti-foreign  feeling.  Lack  of 
rain  and  failure  of  crops  have  been  blamed  upon  the  foreigners  by 
Boxer  agitators.  The  Boxers  themselves  are  simply  an  organized 
anti-foreign  body  of  men  under  a new  name,  who  have  excited 
the  masses. 

In  dealing  with  them  the  Central  Government  made  the  cardi- 
nal error  of  compromising  with  them,  instead  of  putting  them 
down  at  first.  Even  such  capable  foreign  representatives  as  Min- 
ister Wu  at  Washington,  Minister  Conger  at  Peking,  and  Consul- 
General  Goodnow  at  Shanghai,  did  not  seem  to  understand  this 
mob  movement  and  realize  its  strength  until,  like  a fiood  started 
by  a cloudburst,  it  was  breaking  through  all  barriers.  What  was 
the  effect  on  the  masses  at  a critical  moment  of  bringing  marines 
to  Peking,  of  the  capture  of  the  Taku  forts,  of  the  reported  burn- 
ing of  the  Tsung-li-Yamen  by  German  soldiers,  of  the  alleged 
failure  of  the  envoys  to  leave  Peking  when  ordered:,  cannot  yet  be 
accurately  told,  but  it  would  now  appear  to  have  added  fuel  to 
the  flame. 

In  this  connection,  it  is  well  to  note  the  strong  words  of  the 
Americans  expressed  at  their  mass  meeting  at  Shanghai  on  July 
18th.  Their  appeal  included  this  significant  conclusion : The 

present  outrages  are  the  result  of  the  weak  and  vacillating  policy 
of  the  Powers  in  the  past.’^ 

If  the  Powers  have  hesitated  in  the  past,  they  will  be  staggered 
with  the  work  now  before  them.  The  reorganization  of  the 
Chinese  government  on  lines  of  modern  progress  will  be  a mighty 


THE  HOUTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

undertaJving,  of  which  the  outside  world  has  little  conception. 
China  is  not  lacking  in  able  men;  but  conservatism,  custom  and 
tradition  have  figured  so  prominently  in  all  administrations 
through  centuries  that  radical  changes  and  new  methods  will  not 
be  welcomed,  and  will  be  opposed  by  officials  and  masses  alike. 

VI.  MISSIONARY  AND  MATERIAL  INTERESTS. 

Of  the  missionaries  in  China  I have  much  more  to  say  in 
praise  than  in  censure.  I do  not  sympathize  with  the  superficial 
criticism  often  found  in  the  treaty  ports  and  expressed  by  pass- 
ing travellers  against  them.  They  are  doing  far  more  good  than 
harm.  For  years  it  was  my  privilege  to  study  carefully  their 
work  in  Siam,  where  over  one  hundred  were  under  my  jurisdic- 
tion; and  in  frequent  visits  to  China  I noted  the  methods  and 
results  of  their  labors  there. 

The  sum  and  substance  of  the  anti-missionary  sentiment 
among  the  ignorant  Chinese  is  this : the  corrupt  local  officials  are 
opposed  to  the  missionaries,  because  the  Chinese  who  are  taught 
or  converted  by  them  know  what  is  just  and  right,  and  de- 
mand it.  Perhaps  the  matter  goes  up  to  the  Viceroy  for  com- 
plaint through  the  Taotai  or  Consul  and  back  again.  This  makes 
trouble  for  the  official,  and  causes  him  in  revenge  to  wink  at  anti- 
foreign  agitation  and  the  publication  of  malicious  posters.  When 
we  withdraw  our  missionaries  from  Asia,  then  let  us  withdraw 
our  ministers  and  merchants.  The  missionary  interests  of  the 
world  in  China  are  too  vast,  too  widely  ramified  and  too  deeply 
rooted  for  any  foreign  government  to  suggest  that  they  shall  be 
withdrawn  from  China.  Then  above  all  is  the  supreme  considera- 
tion that  the  forces  of  Christianity  which  have  been  struggling  for 
centuries  in  Asia  cannot  consider  now  for  a moment  the  possibility 
of  retreat  and  defeat. 

Many  may  honestly  differ  with  me  in  my  opinion  of  missionary 
work,  but  I cling  to  the  faith  of  our  fathers,  confirmed  by  long 
experience  and  observation  in  Asiatic  city  and  jungle. 

What  has  the  world  materially  at  stake  in  China?  What  has 
America  at  stake  there?  These  questions  are  frequently  pro- 
posed by  those  who,  in  the  rush  of  other  matters,  have  not  here- 
tofore studied  China.  In  former  contributions  to  the  Review  I 
have  endeavored  to  point  them  out.  Though  summarized  briefly, 
some  of  those  which  are  important  and  suggestive  of  wide  possi- 


AMERICA'S  BUTT  IN  CHINA. 


bilities  are  here  noted.  China,  with  400,000,000  people,  in 
4,000,000  square  miles,  has  only  400  miles  of  railway,  but  needs 
in  the  near  future  40,000  miles.  Her  foreign  trade  is  $333,000,- 
000  per  annum,  an  increase  of  one  hundred  per  cent,  in  ten  years. 
America’s  share,  including  Hong  Kong,  is  $43,000,000,  or  one- 
eighth,  in  the  mere  infancy  of  its  development.  China’s  per 
capita  trade,  with  greater  potential  resources  than  Japan,  is  less 
than  one  dollar,  against  Japan’s  six  dollars.  Apply  the  latter’s 
ratio  to  China’s  population  and  we  have  the  magnificent  possi- 
bility of  $2,400,000,000.  There  are  mighty  waterways,  rivers 
and  canals,  to  be  improved,  dredged  and  bridged ; coal,  iron,  gold, 
copper,  tin  and  silver  mines  to  be  developed ; numberless"  cities  to 
be  provided  with  waterworks,  sewerage  systems,  electric  lights 
and  street  railways;  telegraphs  and  telephones  to  be  extended; 
roads  to  be  built,  and  countless  increasing  millions  supplied  with 
food,  clothes  and  other  growing  wants  of  peoples  coming  into  con- 
tact with  the  outer  world. 

In  the  face  of  these  immeasurable  opportunities,  the  improve- 
ment of  which  will  bring  vast  benefits  to  capital  and  labor  in 
America,  who  is  willing  to  suggest  that  we  shall  retreat  and  leav^ 
China  to  the  control  of  European  nations? 

In  conclusion,  I may  be  pardoned  for  quoting  the  final  words 
of  an  address  which  I had  the  honor  to  deliver  before  the  Shanghai 
General  Chamber  of  Commerce  on  the  12th  of  January,  1899; 

I beg  of  you,  in  judging  America’s  policy  in  the  Far  East,  to 
remember  that  these  closing  days  of  the  nineteenth  century  are 
times  that  try  men’s  souls,  when  all  nations  are  unsettled  in  policy 
and  uncertain  as  to  what  He  future  will  bring  forth.  There  is 
confusion  in  the  minds  of  the  people  and  doubt  in  the  thoughts 
of  statesmen.  The  United  States  has  its  share  of  trial  and 
tribulation.  But  there  will  soon  be  an  end  to  it  all,  when  the 
sunshine  of  peace  and  certainty  must  break  through  the  dark 
clouds  of  politics.  Let  us  hope  that  this  day  may  soon  come 
and  bring  with  it  such  decision  as  will  promote  the  comity,  pros- 
perity and  well-being  of  all  nations,  American,  European  and 
Asiatic.”  J ohn  Barrett. 


